Pedagogical outcomes of biographies and scientific disseminations

Abstract

Contemporary children's and young adult literature presents an increasing number of biographies about scientists. Interweaving pedagogical and cognitive aims, these figures are presented as examples of lives in which young readers can recognise themselves, but also as sources for delving into different fields of knowledge.

More specifically, biographies of female scientists witness women’s contribution to the history of science, as forms of dissemination of traditionally underrepresented methods, theories, and discoveries.

The article aims to investigate biographies’ pedagogical outcomes, analysing the lives of some paradigmatic figures, such as the mathematician Ipazia from Alessandria, the physicist Marie Curie, and the neurologist Rita Levi-Montalcini.

Therefore, the analysis focuses on how female scientists and the scientific imaginary are represented, in the relationship between models of action, iconography, and the symbolic values of research.