1. First results from the Dark Skies, Bright Kids astronomy club draw-a-scientist test
- Author
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A. M. Matthews, Christian R. Hayes, Kelsey E. Johnson, Y. Song, Anne Marguerite McAlister, Richard A. Seifert, Andrew M. Burkhardt, Nicholas W. Troup, Molly K. Finn, Sandra Liss, Robert F. Wilson, Brian Prager, Xiaoshan Huang, and Sean T. Linden
- Subjects
LC8-6691 ,Physics ,QC1-999 ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Attitude change ,Club ,Psychology ,Special aspects of education ,Education ,Test (assessment) ,Visual arts - Abstract
This paper presents the first results from draw-a-scientist tests (DASTs) over five years that were used to measure the effect of 8–10 week long astronomy clubs and week long summer camps on 3 rd–5 th grade elementary school students’ perceptions of scientists. We facilitated these DASTs prior to these clubs or camps, which provide a baseline for a student’s initial conception of scientists, and once at the end, to determine whether their conception changed, possibly as a result of their involvement. In total we analyze 89 pairs of DASTs using a numerical grading scheme designed to quantify the presence of various features in the drawn scientist and their activities. We find that there is a gender imbalance in both the pre- and postclub drawings, with only 32% and 35%, respectively, of students drawing female scientists. We also find that a third to a half of the scientists have a stereotypical appearance and/or are performing stereotypical activities. Although we find insignificant changes (
- Published
- 2020