Quantum theory suggests that particles can exist in multiple states at once, a concept often illustrated by Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. Rhona Trauvitch, associate teaching professor of English at Florida International University (FIU), uses the character Miss Piggy to help explain these paradoxes to students.
Miss Piggy, though fictional, has had a real impact on popular culture. According to Trauvitch, her influence despite being imaginary blurs the line between fiction and reality, much like quantum mechanics does with its counterintuitive principles.
Trauvitch leads FIU’s Science & Fiction Lab, which recently received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its project “Enhancing Multiliteracy in STEM with Fi-Sci Pattern Mapping Pedagogy.” The project will assess how fiction can serve as a tool to make scientific ideas more accessible and foster interdisciplinary understanding between humanities and STEM fields.
“We want to use this power of fictionality to help communicate and understand science better — because humans understand fiction very easily,” said Trauvitch.
The lab employs fiction-science pattern mapping. This method encourages students to find links between literature and science. For example, computer science classes have debated ethical dilemmas inspired by Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot.” Through such exercises, students develop skills in interdisciplinary thinking.
Since 2021, the lab has introduced methods for applying expertise across different disciplines. In 2022, funding from FIU’s Honors College and other university offices enabled faculty fellows to create stand-alone lessons called “jigsaw modules,” bringing interdisciplinary content into various courses. In 2023, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded an additional $150,000 grant to expand these efforts.
Trauvitch noted that while she initially expected non-science majors would benefit most from the lab’s work in grasping STEM concepts, STEM students also gained new insights into fiction.
With the NSF grant, the team plans to develop a rubric for measuring whether their approach improves student understanding across both humanities and STEM subjects.
“We are using a multiliteracy approach,” Trauvitch explained. “To truly understand something, you need multiple approaches. It’s no longer enough to just know one thing. You need to access it through different disciplines, different media, maybe even different languages. With this rubric, we’ll be able to see whether students can take a multiliterate view of science.”
She hopes this will encourage students not only to find connections between imagination and reality but also inspire them to explore interests outside their primary field of study and improve their ability to communicate complex topics clearly.
“This doesn’t mean dumbing things down,” she added. “It means having interdisciplinary fluency — so students can share their expertise with anyone, not just fellow specialists.”
The program is also intended to prepare graduates for an increasingly global job market by helping them articulate what they do and why it matters.
“If we show this works the way we think it does, we might even include it in the general education state curriculum,” Trauvitch said. “That would help people not only understand and communicate science better… but it also gives humanities students confidence in their expertise.”
One example cited by Trauvitch was when a student drew parallels between Virginia Woolf’s novel “Jacob’s Room” and dark matter: Jacob is understood only through others’ perspectives; similarly dark matter is known through its effects on the universe rather than direct observation.
“I still can’t believe she came up with that,” said Trauvitch. “It actually made me cry because I thought, ‘Oh, they’re getting it!’”
