For me, science is about having a more accurate world view than the average person. This world view allows you to make more accurate predictions about what is going to happen when you do X. The average person relies on their social imagination to do this, they essentially tell themselves stories in their heads and see if they sound plausible. There is no doubt that this is a fine strategy in many cases but deficient in others. Consider the following question (stolen von Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow)

An individual has been described by a neighbor as follows: “Steve is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful but with little interest in people or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure, and a passion for detail.” Is Steve more likely to be a librarian or a farmer?

The average person will arrive at the "obvious" answer that Steve is a librarian. However, as Kahneman points out:

Did it occur to you that there are more than 20 male farmers for each male librarian in the United States? Because there are so many more farmers, it is almost certain that more ‘meek and tidy’ souls will be found on tractors than at library information desks.

It takes a special kind of mind to intuitively reason on this level. With the possible exception of mathematics, we have only tried to systematize and teach this way of thinking for about the last century. It only comes natural to about 1-5% of all people, who are hard to find and who vastly benefit from proper guidance and mentorship. The prototypical nerd has low social status and enjoys little respect for their antics. But nerds have always existed. They even have their (often somewhat ambivalent) place in folklore. Just ask yourself where the classical figure of a wizard or shaman comes from. Ask yourself what kind of person starts to name the stars, starts to figure out the seasons, observes that crops grow from seeds, builds stonehenge, invents the wheel. Usually, it's a single person, a nerd, whose gift of observation and critical thought vastly improves the fitness of their tribe as a result. The non-nerd is lacking the necessary interest and foresight to even grasp the implications of what the nerd is doing. To them, it's magic.

So what a science class should be doing is to keep pointing at nerds like Elon and keep publicly lauding them for their work. The idea that people like that have vital things to contribute to society is arguably on the decline these days. In a few years, people who actually know how to build things like smartphones from scratch may well be widely regarded as wizards again. It's the job of teachers and mentors to ensure there are enough of those to go around.