The Learn by Doing Lab (LBDL) is a nexus for recruiting and training new science teachers and encouraging careers in STEM disciplines among 4th�8th grade students. Based on a model implemented at CSU Chico, the LBDL offers students an opportunity to use inquiry-based, standards-appropriate pedagogical approaches to actively engage the students. To assess the impact of this experience on students' perceptions of scientists, and more specifically, their perceptions of themselves as scientists, we asked over 2000 students to draw a picture of a scientist before and after the LBDL experience and analyzed the drawings using a rubric based on the Draw A Scientist Test (DAST). While we did not see overarching perception changes,  there was a statistically significant change in students' perception of scientists' gender, as a greater proportion of students drew female scientists after the LBDL experience, more closely representing the gender distribution of the 4th�8th graders.

Effects of Learn by Doing Lab experience on K-12 student perceptions of scientists

241st National Meeting (2011)

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