• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.39-57
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• 2001

In this study, gifted children's perceptions of scientists were investigated. The subjects were 91 elementary students who were registered in educational program for the gifted. This study was conducted using Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST) and questionnaires about the life of scientists. As the results, most scientists were depicted as well-featured and young people. There was a tendency that boys mainly described scientists as male, but girls as female. Many of the students perceived scientists as those who did significant works to try to help other people and pursue the novelty The general perceptions of the gifted on scientists were positive. Majority of students, however, perceived that scientists worked indoors with glassware or chemicals. Relatively, fewer students described books, other materials, and technologies including computer. Many of the students perceived scientists＇work as research or invention. Concerning working pattern, students mainly replied that scientists worked alone. In order to make students＇restricted perceptions enhance for opened and flexible manner, various educational methods need to be implemented.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.64-81
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to analyse middle school students' images and perceptions about scientist, technician and engineer and to compare the images of male students with those of female students. Fralick et al.(2009)'s "Draw a scientist at work and draw an engineer at work" was modified and administered to 110 middle school 3rd grade students (43 male students, 67 female students) from 5 middle schools. They drew the figures at work and took explanation of what the person was doing in a drawing. The results of this study were as follows; First, the representative image of scientist was the man with glasses and lab gown performing the chemical experiment. There were no significant differences between the male students and female students in terms of the scientist images. Second, the representative image of technician was the man who was fixing a car and working with his hands. The technicians were illustrated as working with tools such as wrench, hammer and so on. There were no significant differences between the male students and female students in terms of the technician images. Third, the students involved in this study frequently perceived male engineers as working indoors. But perceptions about performance of engineers were significantly different between male students and female students. A majority of male students recognized that engineers should design, invent and create the products, however many female students perceived the engineers as car mechanics. Fourth, the students perceived differently the scientists' task compared with the technicians', but they had difficulty in distinguishing the scientists' task from the engineers' task.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.293-304
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• 2018

In spite of a growing number of recent studies that indicate students are coming to view scientists with more varied images, the stereotypical image of scientists remains in many students' minds. In this study, the authors explore how college students change their perceptions of science and scientists through the use of a documentary that focuses on scientists' daily lives, including laboratory life, and their emotional ups-and-downs. We analyzed 109 college students' essays on perceptions about scientists after watching the documentary. As a result, 64.2% of the college students declared that there was a change in their perception of scientists. The students' new perceptions of science and scientists are as follows: 1) scientists undergo emotional ups-and-downs just like any normal person; 2) scientists experience numerous failures while researching; 3) science does not have a fixed answer and scientists undertake research with creativity; 4) scientists conduct research in collaboration, but also in highly competitive environments; 5) scientists are often frustrated with their socio-economic status. The students' previous perceptions on science and scientists were mainly stereotypical ones that have been reported in previous studies. In addition, of the other college students who did not change their perceptions, the majority declared that they have new perceptions such as 1) - 5). Only a small percentage of students (7.3%) had unchanged stereotypical perceptions. These results are interpreted as that college students relatively easily change their stereotypical images of scientists after watching the documentary but, alternatively, the results can be interpreted that the most stereotypical images of college students are not perceptions that form a deep impression, but rather they are simply depictions of representative images of scientists given from outside sources (e.g. the mass media and school).

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.443-456
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• 2022

This study explores the possibility and development plan for science career education in the lower grades of elementary school. Accordingly, science career education programs were developed and applied. We investigated changes in perception and interest in science before and after the programs, and analyzed surveys, research journals, student worksheets, and interview records. Science career education programs for lower-grade elementary school students have a positive effect on the perception of scientists and science. Moreover, they influence students' interest in science. Lastly, students' perception of this program was positive and gave high marks to all parameters such as interest, participation, and understanding of the program.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.715-729
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to analyze the perception on science and scientists of the teachers who are engaged in the special education for the scientifically gifted, science-gifted students and their parents. For this study, 34 teachers, 222 students and 107 parents answered the questionnaire of the perception on science and Draw-A-Science-Test (DAST). The result showed that the three groups generally had a sound recognition but the score of recognition about a 'nature of science' was lower than other domains. The science-gifted students had less cognition about 'science and society' than their teachers and parents, but they had more positive perception about 'science learning' than their parents significantly. All of the three groups had the stereotyped image of scientist. About the internal images of scientists, three groups had a similar perception, and they showed higher scores in the cognitive aspect than emotional or ethical aspects. And the science-gifted students showed the significantly higher scores than their teachers and parents in diligence, imaginative power, concern about other people, respect for other's opinion, humor, artistic sense, respect for human, desire for peace. Three groups turned out to be influenced by movie, science journal, and biography as a source of scientist's image, but their contribution was different among groups.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.753-763
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• 2018

The image of scientists that learners have has an important impact on science learning and on science-related career choices. The image of the scientist was mainly analyzed using the drawing analysis method. Drawing analysis has limitations on drawing, mainly analyzing the external image of scientist. Science teachers' images of scientists and their perception of science-related careers are important factors in students' science learning and science-related career choices. However, research on science teachers is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of measurement tools by developing and applying a scientist image measurement tool through the semantic analysis method, and to discuss the educational implications of the research by investigating the image of scientists and science-related professions of secondary pre-service science teachers. The subjects of the study were 79 male and 55 female for a total of 134 students in the 2nd and 3rd grades majoring in science education at a teachers college. The results of the research show that the image measurement tool consisted of four components: 'ability,' 'evaluation,' 'activity,' and 'emotion,' in 24 items. As a result of applying the developed measurement tool to the secondary pre-service science teachers, the image of the 'evaluation,' 'ability,' and 'activity' elements of the scientist were high, but 'emotion' was low. There was no statistically significant difference according to gender. It is found that science-related career perceive them as 'hard,' 'professional,' 'smart,' and 'complex.' In particular, male students perceive themselves as 'hard and difficult' while female students perceive it as 'challenging and complicated'. Finally, we discussed the usefulness of using the image measurement tool of the scientists, the image of the scientists of the secondary pre-service science teachers, and the educational implications on science-related career.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1248-1258
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• 2013

This study investigated the elementary school students' perception of the "purpose of scientists' experiments" and discovered what roles teachers can take to provide guidance. The study subjects were 193 elementary school students (96 boys and 97 girls) in a school located in Gyeonggi-do. The responses were analyzed through categorization based on their gender, science test score at school, and understanding of the purposes of scientific experiments based on students' choice of science-related future careers. The results of this study were as follows. In relation to the purpose of science experiments, the elementary school students considered intrinsic values of doing experiments more valuable than their extrinsic values. Next, 34.2% of the students answered that scientists do science experiment 'to find a new fact' and 26.9% of the students answered 'to make life convenient.' The results showed that girls responded 'social usefulness' more frequently than boys. Considering the achievement levels, it was found that high level students replied 'to make life convenient' more frequently than middle and low level students on why scientists do science experiments. Students who want to have a science-related career had varied ideas about it.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.770-782
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• 2022

This study analyzes the depictions of scientists and teachers' thoughts on the 2015 revised elementary school science authorized 3rd-4th grade textbooks from the perspective of gender equality, and suggest improvements for the 2015 elementary school science authorized 5th-6th grade textbooks as well as a 2022 revised elementary school science curriculum. The data consist of representations of scientists found in seven elementary science textbooks provided to 3rd- and 4th-grade students in 2022 as well as in-depth interviews conducted with three elementary school teachers and responses from 32 teachers in Gyeonggi-do. Of the 23 scientists depicted in the textbooks, three (13.0%) are female and 10 (43.5%) worked in the inquiry domain, which was the largest group. When the teachers were asked about their perceptions of the gender ratio of scientists in the textbooks, their answers revealed that they had lower perceptions of female scientists compared to male scientists; moreover, they had no or very little teaching experience concerning female scientists. Furthermore, the teachers' thoughts on improving the gender ratio of scientists depicted in the textbooks differed considerably by the teachers' gender. Based on these findings, it was concluded that during the process of producing textbooks, writers and members of society need to agree on the gender ratio of scientists to be represented, and a social consensus is needed to identify and introduce the achievements of previously unknown female scientists towards gender equality.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.327-341
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to obtain science high school students' perceptions of scientists and their work before and after the Green Investigation program with scientists. This study also attempts to determine whether the program affected the participants' perceptions of scientists and their work. A modified DAST was carried out with 64 high school students. Findings revealed that Korean science high school students had normal perceptions of scientists, such as images of 20 to 30 year old males wearing laboratory coats and working alone in research labs with test tubes, flasks, and several machines in the background. After the intervention, students drew fewer typical items representing scientists and had significantly different perceptions of their work places between the pretest (M=1.69, SD=1.14) and posttest (M=1.96, SD=1.24, t=4.43, p<0.001) with the eta squared statistics (.24). These findings reflect the need for continued efforts of developing green investigation programs with scientists for students. Some future studies based on this study are also introduced.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.499-518
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• 2004

This study focused on research that illustrates the important interplay between learners' epistemological beliefs about science knowledge, physics textbook knowledge and knowing physics in the classroom. Also this study investigated learners' conceptual changes on the value of mechanical energy. To explore these topics, six sophomores were chosen as participants. Three categories were introduced to classify how participants' understanding of the nature of science knowledge, physics textbook knowledge has been linked with epistemological beliefs of knowing physics. The three categories were (1)receiving physics knowledge as authority, (2)receiving physics knowledge as the perception of teacher's role and (3)understanding physics knowledge as the perception that science knowledge is a product of a variety of human ideas. These categories were also concerned with construction of individual conceptions of mechanical energy. The participants who understood physics knowledge as the perception that science knowledge is a product of a variety of human ideas naturally used metacognitive strategy in classroom compared to other participants. And they had scientific conceptions about the value of mechanical energy. Others who were passive in classroom had unscientific conceptions about the value of mechanical energy due to definition of energy and epistemological beliefs about the nature of science knowledge. In the process of their conceptual changes on the value of mechanical energy, it was important to understand an instrumental aspect of scientific knowledge and to think about the relation between formulae and physical phenomena.