The Educational Role of Cinema in Physical Sciences

Cinema, apart from its entertaining prospect, can flourish knowledge in various fields of daily life and, in particular, in the understanding of the natural world. It could be even embedded in the educational system, at all levels, so as to convey concepts that may be difficult for students in an enjoyable and understandable way. In this mini-review, the educational dimension of the cinema and the related television series is discussed, through the presentation of concepts and phenomena relevant to the natural sciences that have been approached with characteristic scenes of popular cinema movies of our times. We present case studies from physics and astronomy, mathematics, materials science, and engineering that can be easily embedded in the educational curriculum. Notwithstanding the fact that watching movies cannot replace the traditional educational method, it can pose as an alternative, complementary tool for educators.