The lesson I implemented this week with a small group of students was an inquiry into the life of a scientist. Students were first asked to respond to the question, "Are you a scientist?" They had to tell why they did or did not believe so. I was pleasantly surprised that all students did indeed see themselves as scientists! This is the first step toward getting my students hooked into a path toward a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) career.
The next part of the lesson called for students to imagine a scientist in their head, then to draw a picture of the image. The results for this were similar to what I expected as many of the illustrations depicted a caricature-type image of a mad scientist (see pictures). Four out of five were male, four of five had wild hair, three of the scientists wore a lab coat and were drawn with some type of test tube or beaker of chemicals, and all five scientists had glasses. The average age of the five scientists imagined was 68 years old. Even without prompting, the most common scientist drawn was a male over 60 years old working with chemicals wearing glasses, a lab coat, and wild hair. The results were contradictory, though. All my students thought themselves to be scientists, but when asked to draw a scientist immediately after that discussion, they drew scientists that did not resemble themselves in the slightest. When asked questions such as if a scientist has to wear glasses, all five students said no. Yet, all their scientists were drawn with glasses. This indicates that although students may picture a stereotypical scientist, they do understand these are not realistic characteristics.
Finally, students participated in a Promethean lesson in which they were shown pictures of ten scientists of varying ethnic backgrounds, ages, and genders. They had to match the picture to the career they thought that person held, such as an aviator, computer scientists, or marine biologist. Then, students were given a clue about the person's accomplishments, and they had to guess again. The purpose of this activity was to help students see two things. One, anyone can be a scientist: male, female, white, black, young, or old. Two, students saw that there is a wide range of careers scientists can hold. It is not just about working with chemicals in a laboratory!
As an extension, students were asked to go home to briefly research a science career they were intrigued by to share with the class the following day. I thought this lesson was successful in that it got students thinking about what science really is and the opportunities it holds for them in the future.
