Abstract:

Since Chambers' first study in 1983 [1], many Draw A Scientist Test (DAST) have been administered to primary schools children. Following the DAST approach, we designed a research project aimed to investigate the mental representations and stereotypes related to scientist in second year children of a Primary School in Cernobbio (Como Lake, Italy), with 15 boys and 13 girls. After a first administration of the DAST, the research continued with an educational project consisting of some activities designed to raise children’s awareness of scientific issues and of the existence of female figures in science. A second administration of the DAST was then conducted at the end of the school year with the aim of observing any differences in children’s drawings. The questions from which the research was born are: can the children’s mental representations of the scientist be expanded by virtue of the educational project proposed? Will more female scientists be drawn by children in the second administration of the DAST, at the end of the school year, than in the first administration? As a result of the two administrations, it emerged that the majority of children produced drawings with more than 2 indicators, up to 5 or 6; after the first administration, the average value of the indicators represented by the children was 3.3 indicators and 3.4 indicators after the second. Regarding the gender of the protagonists, after the first administration, 44.4% of the children represented a female scientist and 37% after the second. It emerged that children represented a greater number of male scientists, and, in general, they tended to choose the protagonist of their drawing consistently with their own gender; there were, even if much less frequently, cases in which children chose a protagonist of the opposite gender than their own. We will compare our results with Chambers' original results and with later studies too [2].

It is possible to suggest that children involved in the present study possess a stereotypical image of the scientist that is broadly articulated and tends to become structured over time. Overall, the children show greater flexibility about the gender of the protagonists; however, no significant differences are observed between the two DAST administrations, in the number of female subjects depicted. So, the hypothesis that the children's mental representations might have been expanded is not confirmed. However, it should be emphasized that these results refer to a very small sample of subjects. Moreover, children need to have frequent and continuous contact with positive female role models so that they can become reference figures for them [3]. However, the children involved were already at a good level of counter-stereotypical representation about scientists. These data suggest the existence of an encouraging trend toward the expansion of stereotypical representation characterized by the rigid association between science and men.

References:
[1] D. W. Chambers (1983), Stereotypic images of the Scientist: The Draw-A-Scientist Test, Sci. Edu 67:2, 255-265
[2] D.I. Miller et al. (2018) The Development of Children’s Gender-Science Stereotypes: A Meta-analysis of 5 Decades of U.S. Draw-A-Scientist Studies, Child Development, 89:6, 1943–1955
[3] J. Sjaastad (2012), Sources of Inspiration: The role of significant persons in young people's choice of science in higher education, Int. J. Sci. Edu. 34:10, 1615-1636

Keywords:

STEM, gender equality, DAST, female scientists.