In a doctoral research paper (Groleau, 2017), we constructed a typology of future elementary school teachers’ relationships to scientific experts (relationships of dependence, coexistence, cooperation and empowerment). In this article, we interpret this typology in light of the deficit, non-deficit, and anti-deficit attitudes that the participants adopt toward citizens. Some participants adopt a deficit stance: they consider that citizens suffer from deficits in terms of knowledge, comprehension and interest with regard to techno-science. Other participants express a non-deficit stance. Still others seek to contest the deficit stance: these thus hold an anti-deficit stance. We then show how the relationships to scientific experts fit together with these three stances, and discuss the consequences of these results on the way ethical aspects of socio-technical controversies are taken into account in techno-science courses.