Breaking Stereotypes: How Undergraduates' Life Experiences of Scientists Shape Their Scopes of Possibility

Building on decades of scholarship critiquing scientist representation in classrooms and textbooks, the present study characterizes the lifetime experiences of undergraduate students regarding their perceptions of scientists and science identity. Informed by the theoretical framework of Cultural Learning Pathways (CLP), we conducted 31 semistructured interviews with undergraduates who completed six Scientist Spotlights (scientistspotlights.org), which are inclusive curricular supplements that feature counterstereotypical scientists. Despite decades of progress in curricular representation, our results revealed almost all students (94%, n = 29) recounted exposure to predominantly (if not exclusively) stereotypical scientists across social institutions (e.g., media, K12, universities, healthcare environments) throughout their lifetime, which "limited" their Scopes of Possibility to pursue science. All students (100%, n = 31) reported that Scientist Spotlights "enhanced" Scopes of Possibility for themselves and others from marginalized backgrounds to pursue science. Last, almost all students (97%, n = 30) shared characteristics they hoped to see when "imagining" Scopes of Possibility, emphasizing the need for a concerted effort to increase representation of counterstereotypical scientists across science curriculum and social institutions more broadly.