What Do Students Think Scientists Look Like?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a gender difference in the way nine to 12'yearold students drew scientists before and after their teachers implemented intervention strategies. Rubrics were used to analyze for stereotypic characteristics such as sex of the scientist and the presence of eye glasses, a lab coat, funny hair, a weird smile, wild eyes, facial hair, robotic features, and facial scars.Results indicated that boys held more stereotypic views on pretest drawings than did girls and also demonstrated the most improvement to less stereotypic views as a result of intervention.

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

“…More recent studies, conducted by Newton and Newton (1998) in the UK, and Buldu (2006) in Turkey, have yielded results similar to those of Chambers (1983) although variations of the dominance of stereotypical views are also reported. For instance, Huber and Burton (1995) found that 9 -12-year-old boys hold more stereotypical images of scientists than girls. Fung (2002) compared Hong Kong Chinese primary and secondary students' images of scientists using the DAST and also found similar trends, with older students having more stereotypical images of scientists than younger students and with scientists being portrayed as predominantly male.…”

“…Students' views of scientists and their work have been the subject of various studies for a number of decades (Barman, 1999;Chambers, 1983;Finson, 2002;Ford, 2006;Huber & Burton, 1995;Mead & Metraux, 1957;Rawson & McCool, 2014;Ruiz-Mallén & Escalas, 2012). One seminal study was that of Chambers (1983), who first used the 'Draw-A-Scientist' Test (DAST) to determine young students' views of scientists and their work and to establish at what stage of children's lives these views develop.…”

Turkish Primary Students’ Perceptions about Scientist and What Factors Affecting the Image of the Scientists

“…In the previous studies, general opinion would readily find a scientist depicted as a white male, middleaged or older, wearing a lab coat and glasses and featuring some type of facial hair (Barman, 1996(Barman, -1997(Barman, -1999Bodzin, & Gehringer, 2001;Chambers 1983;Finson, 2002Finson, -2003Finson, Pedersen, & Thomas, 2006;Flick, 1990;Fort & Varney 1989;Finson, Beaver, & Cramond 1995;Fung, 2002;Huber & Burton 1995;Kahle, 1992;Moseley, & Norris, 1999;Odell, Hewitt, Bowman, & Boone, 1993;Pedersen, & Thomas, 1999;Rosenthal, 1993;Ryder, Leach, & Driver, 1999;Schibeci & Sorensen, 1983;Song, & Kim, 1999;Symington, & Spurling, 1990;Thomas, & Pedersen, 1998;Thomas, Pedersen, & Finson, 2001). In this study, the students perceived scientists as being males (94.1%) who are oldaged (69.7%), do their work in some type of laboratory (79.8 %), and wearing lab coat (46.7 %).…”

“…Scientist was elderly or middle aged and wears glasses. This has been interpreted as showing strong confirmation of a stereotype of the scientist (Chambers 1983;Finson, Beaver & Cramond 1995;Fort & Varney 1989;Huber & Burton 1995;Mead & Metraux, 1957;Hadden & Johnstone, 1983;Rubin, & Cohen, 2003;Schibeci & Sorenson 1983;Solomon 1993;Tuckey, 1992). These stereotypical images of the scientist seemed to be common worldwide.…”

The Children's Perceptions of the Teacher: An Analysis of the Drawings Created by the Children

“…Most "drawing" studies conducted thus far are from the perspective of the "scientist" (Buldu, 2006;Fort & Vanney, 1989;Huber & Burton, 1995;Kaya, Doğan & Öcal, 2008;Korkmaz & Kavak, 2010;Oğuz-Ünver, 2010;Rosenthal, 1993;Schibeci & Sorensen, 1983). Several studies (Ahi, Cingi, & Kıldan, 2016;Aykaç, 2012;Çam Aktaş, 2010;Harrison, Clarke, & Ungerer, 2007) explores the perception of the teacher.…”