Professor Says Hollywood Movies are Ruining Science For Students

Posted on August 15, 2007

A UCF professor says that all the inaccurate physics in movies is actually hurting students' understanding of science.

Movies such as Spiderman 2 and Speed generate excitement among audiences with their cool special effects. But they also defy the laws of physics, contributing to students� ignorance about science. Two University of Central Florida professors show just how poorly Hollywood writers and directors understand science in an article published in the German journal "Praxis der Naturwissenschaften Physik." Common sense may indicate that people should know the stunts in movies are just make believe, but the professors say that's not necessarily true.
Some people really do believe a bus traveling 70 mph can clear a 50-foot gap in a freeway, as depicted in the movie Speed. And, if that were realistic, a ramp would be needed to adjust the direction of motion to even try to make the leap, said UCF professor Costas J. Efthimiou, who co-authored the article. "Students come here, and they don't have any basic understanding of science," he said. "Sure, people say everyone knows the movies are not real, but my experience is many of the students believe what they see on the screen."
And that's not just a UCF problem. Efthimiou said students across the United States seem to have the same challenge with science. It starts young. The Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 report seems to support his observations. The report shows that the average science scores among 12th graders in the U.S. dropped from the previous year. The scores remained stagnant in the fourth and eighth grades. Worse, only about one-third of all students tested were proficient, meaning they had a solid understanding of what they should know.

Is the professor trying to say that the big freeway chase in Die Hard 3 where Bruce Willis driving a huge truck on an elevated freeway while being chased by fighter plane wasn't perfectly plausible? Because we beg to differ. That happened to us just the other day in L.A.

Seriously, though, we do think more science should be taught in schools, along with math. That's why we love the show Numb3rs -- math is cool, people. And speaking of Numb3rs, season 3 premieres Friday, September 28th, 2007 on CBS.

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