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“Pop culture scaffold” — What it is, and how it’s used in science communication
To understand the concept of pop culture scaffold, we’ll rely on Neil deGrasse Tyson—acclaimed astrophysicist, planetary scientist, TV personality, science educator and science communicator—who advocates the use of pop culture references to make scientific concepts graspable to audiences of non-scientists. Pop culture—or popular culture—is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared meanings of a social system. It includes media objects, entertainment and leisure, fashion and trends, and linguistic conventions, among other things. Popular culture is usually associated with either mass culture or folk culture, and differentiated from high culture and various institutional cultures (political culture, educational culture, legal culture, etc.). So think music, film,…