본 연구에서는 고등학교 l학년 학생들을 대상으로 하여 과학자 읽기 자료를 도입한 수업이 과학자에 대한 이미지 및 학생들의 과학에 대한 태도에 미치는 영향을 알아보았다. 과학자 이미지를 대표하는 성별에서는 여성 과학자 읽기 자료를 도입한 실험반에서 여성 과학자를 그린 학생들의 수가 유의미하게 증가하였는데, 그 정도는 여학생에게서 특히 크게 나타났다. 또한 과학에 대한 태도에서는 전체적으로 유의미하게 긍정적으로 변하였으며, 실험반과 통제반을 비교한 결과 여성 과학자 읽기 자료를 도입한 실험반의 경우 더 효과가 있었으며, 특히 과학 관련 직업 선호에 효과가 있었다.
This research was designed to verify the effects of reading materials about scientists on the attitude toward science and images of scientists. The studies have been conducted for students in the tenth grade science class. In experimental group, students were instructed to read the reading material regarding the role models of five female scientists in class, while a control group were furnished with those of male scientists. Before and after instruction, the pre- and post-test about attitudes toward science and images of scientists were administered. In general, it was found that they successfully cast away the stereotyped images of scientists with the aid of the reading materials. There were significant differences between two groups in gender of a scientist (p = .000). Namely, more students in the experimental group had drawn the pictures of female scientists than those in the control group. In addition, test score in attitude toward science have shown significant differences between pre- and post-test (p < .001). And, the experimental group score is higher than control group (p < .05). Accordingly, this research has verified that the reading materials about scientists, especially of female scientists, can have favorable influence on the attitudes and images of scientists.
