Differences and Similarities in Scientists’ Images Among Popular USA Middle Grades Science Textbooks

Rebecca Hite

doi:10.12973/ejmse.2.2.63

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;">Research on students’ perceptions of scientists is ongoing, starting with early research by Mead and Metraux in the 1950s and continuing in the present. Continued research interest in this area is likely due to scholarship suggesting adolescents’ impressions of scientists are sourced in-part from media, which influence their interests in science and identity in becoming a scientist. A significant source of images, in which adolescents (or middle school students) view science and scientists, is in their science textbooks. A qualitative content analysis explored images of scientists in three of the major U.S.-based middle grade science textbooks published in the new millennium: sixth grade biology, seventh grade earth science, and eighth grade physical science. The Draw A Scientist Test (DAST) Checklist was employed to assess scientists’ images and the stereotypes therein. From nine textbooks, 435 images of scientists were coded and analyzed by publisher and grade level / area by DAST constructs of appearance, location, careers, and scientific activities. Statistical analyses showed significant variances between grade levels and textbook publishers of scientists. Despite scientists portrayed in active endeavors, traditional tropes of the scowling, older, solitary, white male scientist persist. This study offers insight in leveraging improved images of scientists in textbooks.</p>

Highlights

Images are powerful since they have the power to insight emotions, construct information, confirm or refute stereotypes (Weber & Mitchell, 1995)
A qualitative content analysis explored images of scientists in three of the major U.S.-based middle grade science textbooks published in the new millennium: sixth grade biology, seventh grade earth science, and eighth grade physical science
Using QCA, images of scientists were sourced from the three top publishers of sixth grade biology, seventh grade earth science, and eighth grade physical science textbooks and coded according to a Draw A Scientist Test (DAST)-based framework to determine the distribution and demographics of scientists’ images contained therein and the stereotypes they possibly convey

Summary

Introduction

Images are powerful since they have the power to insight emotions, construct information, confirm or refute stereotypes (Weber & Mitchell, 1995). A common and coherent strategy to both elicit and understand students’ perceptions of a scientist is the Draw a Scientist Test (DAST; Chambers, 1983) and checklist (DAST-C) (Finson et al, 1995), respectively. When administering the DAST, students are prompted to draw their idea of a scientist, one at work. Through many decades of using this inventory, “researchers who have studied children’s perceptions of scientists found pervasive, but questionable, preconceived ideas of scientists among all age levels of children” (Buldu, 2006, p.122). This suggests there is a common or at least consistent factor that could be influencing students over time

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Discussion

Conclusion