A new study concluded that gender stereotypes are changing, when asked to "draw a scientist," children are drawing more female scientists today than in the past five decades: 28% (1985 to 2016) versus 0.6% (1966 to 1977). The research consisted of 78 studies and over 20,000 children in K - 12. These attitudes appear to be changing due to children seeing more women depicted as scientists in the media. The study also found that as children get older, there is a stronger tendency to draw scientists as males. A link to the research study can be found here.
If you were given this test today, what gender would come to mind first? How do stereotypes in the media affect our perceptions of gender roles? This is interesting because I remember being given this assignment somewhere around 2nd grade. I of course drew a male scientist - can you really blame me? Today I would draw a female scientist, even without ever reading this because I have been trying to strengthen my female human anatomy drawing. I forgot to add, about the gender studies, which we both learned about in our collaborative models class - that because males and females are told that they tend to perform better in certain subjects, that revealing is the main cause of performance discrepancies between the two. I definitely agree that encouraging students using equity and fairness will ultimately benefit them, and provide between them an equilibrium across subjects.
Viri
4/30/2018 10:16:50 pm
I was thinking about this when the gender studies group presented on this topic, thank you for your feedback Andrew!
christy
5/12/2018 10:29:09 pm
I have been seeing young girls that I work with being much more vocal about going into the science. I think there is progress in how we teach the hard science now that is much more engaging to student and in return make them want to pursue a career using the same subjects.
Viri
5/13/2018 12:52:32 am
Oh that's wonderful to hear! Thank you for your insights Christy.
Michelle Chung
5/14/2018 04:04:09 am
We need to make more effort in presenting children with diverse representations of scientists! Let's make sure to go beyond Newton, Einstein, and Galile and frequently discuss about historic and living female scientists.
Viri
5/14/2018 08:10:22 pm
Yes, I agree! Thank you for your feedback Michelle!
Rebecca Bybee
5/14/2018 10:51:10 pm
Growing up in the age of Bill Nye the Science Guy, I still associate males to be more prevalent as scientists. If you think about it, there is not a female scientist like “Bill Nye” portrayed in the media today nor was in the past. I think it’s great that students today are drawing female scientists and I think female scientist shows should be aired and views in schools today.
Aaron Brodkin
5/16/2018 01:50:35 pm
I’m glad to hear these numbers are up, I think of a male but more representation would help that Comments are closed.
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