K-12 Students' Perceptions of Scientists: Finding a valid measurement and exploring whether exposure to scientists makes an impact

Hillman, Susan J.; Bloodsworth, Kylie H.; Tilburg, Charles E.; Zeeman, Stephan I.; List, Henrietta E.

doi:10.1080/09500693.2014.908264

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…As discussed previously, the DAST is a commonly used tool in investigations of students' views of science. However, it also imposes some challenges such as the fact that it often forces students to make a choice (Barman, 1999) and that it might not capture adequately the students' full characterisations of scientists (Hillman et al, 2014). For instance, students are required to choose their scientist's gender, ethnicity and surroundings, although these might not necessarily be representative of their views of what scientists look like or what they do.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, Hillman, Bloodsworth, Tilburgb, Zeeman, and List (2014) also used a combination of methods to assess 485 primary, middle and high-school students' images of scientists and have found that these students' views, although consistent with the stereotypical images of scientists previously reported, they were not as dominant as previously reported. Nonetheless, Hillman et al (2014) also report that scientists were consistently characterised by their students as wearing lab coats, using lab equipment and working in laboratories. Dagher and Ford (2005) adopted a different methodological approach for assessing students' images of scientists and their work, by asking students to investigate real scientists' lives and then write the scientists' biographies.…”

Section: Students' Views Of Scientists and Their Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

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Students have been reported to have stereotypical views of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats. We argue that a way to provide students with a more realistic view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to interact with scientists during short, discussion-based sessions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 professional areas were asked to share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist, in short sessions with groups of 7 -8 students. The student sample consisted of 223 students between 13 and 15 years. Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the sessions to assess students' views of scientists and their work, and scientists' experiences of interacting with students. The pre-session questionnaires revealed that students considered scientists as 'boring' and 'nerdy' whereas after the sessions students focused extensively on how 'normal' the scientists appeared to be. The faceto-face interactions with scientists allowed students to view scientists as approachable and normal people, and to begin to understand the range of scientific areas and careers that exist. Scientists viewed the scientist-student interactions as a vehicle for science communication. Implications discussed include the need for future training courses to focus on developing science communicators' questioning and interaction skills for effective interactions with students.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Students' Views Of Scientists and Their Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The mentors informally discussed their own research and lifestyle with the students, providing the students with valuable insights into a career in science. Third, interactions with PhD scientist mentors dispel students’ perceptions about scientist stereotypes [52,53]. The group of PhD scientists involved in this project were male and female, relatively young (mostly under 30 years of age), and from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A citizen science model for implementing statewide educational DNA barcoding

Chiovitti

Thorpe²,

Gorman³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

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Our aim was to develop a widely available educational program in which students conducted authentic research that met the expectations of both the scientific and educational communities. This paper describes the development and implementation of a citizen science project based on DNA barcoding of reptile specimens obtained from the Museums Victoria frozen tissue collection. The student program was run by the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC) and was delivered as a “one day plus one lesson” format incorporating a one-day wet laboratory workshop followed by a single lesson at school utilising online bioinformatics tools. The project leveraged the complementary resources and expertise of the research and educational partners to generate robust scientific data that could be analysed with confidence, meet the requirements of the Victorian state education curriculum, and provide participating students with an enhanced learning experience. During two 1-week stints in 2013 and 2014, 406 students mentored by 44 postgraduate university students participated in the project. Students worked mainly in pairs to process ~200 tissue samples cut from 53 curated reptile specimens representing 17 species. A total of 27 novel Cytochrome Oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) sequences were ultimately generated for 8 south-east Australian reptile species of the families Scincidae and Agamidae.

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“…reotypes. STEM stereotypes fall into two categories: (1) Stereotypes related to perceptions (and in some cases reality) of STEM fields as lonely, white, masculine and unfriendly to women and people of color, which in turn affects individuals' sense of belonging (Archer et al, 2017;Hughes, 2015;Bricker and Bell, 2014;Buchholz et al, 2014;Carlone et al, 2015;Hillman et al, 2014;Lock and Hazari, 2016;Master et al, 2016;O'Brien et al, 2016;Scott and White, 2013); and (2) Stereotypes associated with traditional school science which privileges the idea that science is based on known facts and results are based on a rigid scientific method leaving minimal room for curiosity or mistakes (Calabrese Carlone et al, 2014). Teachers and parents play a crucial role in reinforcing the masculine stereotype associated with STEM fields that continues to prevent "girly girls" from seeing opportunities for success in STEM or seeing themselves as belonging (Archer et al, 2015;Archer et al, 2013;Buchholz et al, 2014;Carlone et al, 2015;Calabrese Barton et al, 2013;Lock and Hazari, 2016;Master et al, 2016).…”

Section: Encourage Girls To Identify and Challenge Stem Ste-mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Summary of Effective Gender Equitable Teaching Practices in Informal STEM Education Spaces

Hughes

Schellinger

Billington

et al. 2020

JSTEM

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K-12 Students' Perceptions of Scientists: Finding a valid measurement and exploring whether exposure to scientists makes an impact

Cited by 36 publications

References 13 publications

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

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

A citizen science model for implementing statewide educational DNA barcoding

A Summary of Effective Gender Equitable Teaching Practices in Informal STEM Education Spaces

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