Do Children Have a More Well-rounded Understanding of Women in Science Today?

Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge @ NASA Goddard” by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center licensed under CC BY 2.0

Source: Science Daily

Do children have a better understanding of women in the field of science today?

One study found that children are more likely to associate scientists with females today than ever before.

A group of researchers analyzed data on “Draw A Scientist” studies that have been conducted for more than 5 decades, looking at results from 78 studies on more than 20,000 youth over the years.

The results indicate that gender stereotypes in the field of science have slowly been improved over time, with more children depicting females as scientists in drawing tests. Researchers say the change could be attributed to the actual improvement in the number of females in the field of science, and furthermore concluded that the change is positive as these perceptions could influence whether a girl decides to pursue science in their lives.

The report also suggests that as children get older, they are more likely to draw a male scientists than a female scientist, while most children under 5 will draw male and female scientists equally.

Read Full Story: Science Daily

Children & Families, Education, News
Children & Families, Education, News