Students’ Images of Scientists and Doing Science: An International Comparison Study
- 14 December 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Modestum Ltd in EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education
- Vol. 9 (2), 114-129
- https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.923a
Abstract
This study compared students' perceptions of doing science and scientists reflected in their drawings using a modified version of the Drawing-A-Scientist-Test across five different countries: China, India, South Korea, Turkey, and US. The participants were 1,800 students from grades three, seven and ten from the five countries. Thirty students randomly selected were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Results indicated that fewer stereotypes were exhibited at the lower grades than at the higher grades in all of the countries. Students from India, US, and South Korea perceived doing science passive more than those from Turkey and China. A larger number of Indian and Turkish students reported that they wanted to become a scientist or have a science related career compared to those from the other countries. In addition, students' perceptions of scientist were not related to their career choices in any country. However, students who perceived science as active practice were inclined to choose science-related career more than students who regarded science as passive practice in Korea and US. There was no statistically significant difference by perception of doing science actively or passively for career choice in India, Turkey and China.Keywords
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