A Study on Elementary Students' Perceptions of Science, Engineering, and Technology and on the Images of Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians

Abstract

이 연구의 목적은 초등학생의 과학, 공학, 기술에 대한 인식과 과학자, 공학자, 기술자에 대한 이미지를 조사하는 데 있다. 본 연구에서는 조사도구로 Fralick et al. (2009)의 연구에서 사용된 DAST(Draw a scientist test)를 Draw a scientist at work와 Draw a engineer at work를 수정하고 변형하여 사용하였으며, 경남 G시의 S초등학교 6학년 209명을 대상으로 조사하였다. 연구 결과에 의하면, 초등학생들이 가지고 있는 과학자의 이미지는 선행연구에서 나타난 전형적인 과학자의 이미지와 비슷하였다. 공학자의 대표적인 이미지는 짧은 머리에 안경을 쓰고 있지 않으며 평상복을 입고 일을 하고 있는 형태이다. 그리고 주로 선박, 로봇, 컴퓨터, 비행기를 설계하거나 만드는 모습을 나타내었다. 기술자의 대표적인 이미지는 짧은 머리에 보호 장갑을 끼고 용접용 마스크를 착용하였다. 기술자는 자동차, 로봇 등을 고치거나 렌치, 드라이버, 용접기 등을 이용하여 일하는 모습을 나타내었다. 학생들은 공학과 기술을 학문으로 인식하지 못하는 경향을 나타냈다. 또한, 공학, 기술의 연구 분야, 연구 방법에 대해서도 다양하게 인식하지 못하였다. The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school students' perceptions about science, engineering and technology and their images of scientists, engineers, and technicians. In order to investigate students' images of scientists, engineers, technicians and student's perception of science, engineering, and technology, we used the tools "Draw a scientist at work, Draw an engineer at work, and Draw a technician at work". We have revised the tool DAST (Draw a scientist test), which was used in Fralick et al.'s study (2009). Subjects were 209 6th grade students sampled from an elementary school in G-city in Korea. According to the results of this study, the students' representative image of a scientist was similar to stereotypical scientist image in previous studies, but the students perceived science as a field of research with various professionals. The students' representative image of an engineer was a man with short hair, no beard or mustache, wearing ordinary clothes but no glasses. The engineer was designing or constructing a ship, a robot, a computer, and an airplane. The students' representative image of a technician was a man with short hair, wearing protective goggles and a mask for welding. The technician was fixing a car, a robot, a rocket, etc. and working with wrenches, hammers, screw drivers, welding machines, etc. Many students didn't perceive engineering and technology as fields of research. Also, many students didn't variously perceive engineering and technology as fields and ways of study.