Evaluating Drawings to Explore Chemistry Teachers’ Pedagogical Attitudes - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 254

Fig. 1 Examples from the study by Laubach et al. ( 2012 )

point, Chambers ( 1983 ) developed the “Draw-A-Scientist-Test” (DAST) in order to
evaluate children

s perceptions of scientists. Chambers found that the older children
are, the more stereotypical and standardized their personal beliefs about scientists
become (Schibeci & Sorensen, 1983 ). Other studies which employed DAST eval-
uated: (1) elementary students

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beliefs about who actually performs science under
given conditions (Barmann, 1996 ); (2) precollege students ' ideas about science,
scientists, and technology (Hill & Wheeler, 1991 ); and (3) students

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beliefs about
scientists concerning gender differences (Mason, Kahle, & Gardner, 1991 ). Quite
recently, Laubach, Crofford, and Marek ( 2012 ) inquired into Native American
students

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perceptions of science using the same instrument. They came to the
conclusion that students who practice native cultural traditions at home do not
tend to view themselves as scientists. The researchers suggested that such a
viewpoint may influence students

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educational and career choices in the fields of
science and technology. Two examples from their study are given in Fig. 1 .
In 1995 Weber and Mitchell pointed out that while many researchers have
recognized the power of children

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s drawings as a diagnostic tool for more than a
century, educational research generally has not paid enough attention to this area.
This has changed, however, in recent years. Ever since the 1990s, DAST and other
related tools have again begun to be employed for research on science teachers

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beliefs and attitudes. Rosenthal ( 1993 ) used DAST to evaluate the beliefs of
76 teacher trainees of elementary school science and 90 student teachers of biology.
He found that the scientist stereotype held by both groups consisted of a white male
wearing eyeglasses and lab coat working in a laboratory. Elementary teachers
tended to hold more closely to this stereotype than secondary school teacher
trainees in biology did. Carnes ( 2000 ) also evaluated student teachers

beliefs
when comparing early childhood and elementary school situations. Many students
at the beginning of their Master of Arts program expressed beliefs coinciding with
the “mad scientist” stereotype of scientific disciplines. The “mad scientist” is
typically portrayed as a Caucasian scientist of either gender who is engaged in a
variety of wild scientific investigations. He or she is an adult and typically works

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