Drawing a scientist: What we do and do not know after fifty years of drawings

Another facet of the research literature is that even most minority students draw images of Caucasian scientists. Research has also demonstrated that students may hold perceptions of scientists different than those they draw. Sometimes, students hold multiple images or simply draw what they think is silly. Hence, one needs to view student drawings with the proverbial grain of salt.

There are different ways in which students' perceptions of scientists can be discerned and assessed. Open-ended questions, Likert-type scale surveys, interviews, and drawings have all been utilized. The combination of drawings with interviews appears to be the most useful of these strategies. Thus, the Draw-a-- Scientist- Test (Chambers, 1983) and the Draw-a-- Scientist--Test Checklist (Finson et al. 1995) have been useful instruments in this line of research. These instruments thus far appear to be valid tools regardless of subjects' ages, race, or gender. Consequent with these perceptions have been efforts to link attitudes and self-efficacy to the degree an image drawn by a student is stereotypical. Although difficult, some research has strongly suggested the link between these things. Students who have strong and positive selfefficacy tend to be those having more positive attitudes and tend to draw images with fewer stereotypical elements in them.

Notable bright spots exist in this overall picture. For example, the research clearly demonstrates that the perceptions students hold of scientists can be positively impacted. This seems to hold true whether the focus of educators' efforts is gender equity, racial equity, or simply making scientists more like "regular people" in the minds of those who draw them. Various strategies have been reported, but most of the successful ones appear to include the use of role models, activities, and targeted career exploration. In terms of role models, female or minority scientists have been brought into classrooms to speak with and work with students. In some cases, students have stepped out of the classroom to work with these individuals. However, simply providing a one-shot exposure to a role model seems insufficient to effect lasting changes in perceptions. Exposure must be well planned and coordinated and must occur over some extended period of time.

Similarly, investigation into careers seems to be most effective when incorporated into instruction over the longer term. With respect to activities, those interventions in which students of targeted groups are actively engaged seem to lead to reduced stereotypical perceptions. As an example, classroom teachers who have made efforts to ensure girls have active roles in working groups or who have created all-girl groups for activities seem to positively impact those girls' perceptions of scientists. In a similar vein, students from minority populations seem to respond well to role models from their own race. Other less targeted interventions have appeared to be successful in reducing the stereotypical perceptions of students at all levels. Overall, interventions appear to have, at least, immediate effects on many students with regard to their perceptions of scientists.