dastt-c

This research focuses on the development of an instrument to measure the beliefs of an elementary teacher regarding the teaching of science. My colleague, Jon Pedersen at East Carolina University, and I began with the following questions: 1) What images do elementary preservice students have of themselves as a science teachers? And 2) How do these images change from pre-methods course to post-methods course? Fifty methods class students participated in this research.

To address these questions, we developed a variation of the Draw-A-Scientist-Test or DAST (Chambers, 1983). The DAST was developed as an open-ended projective test to provide information regarding children’s perceptions of scientists. Pictures were assessed according to seven basic standard image elements. Finson, Beaver, and Crammond (1995) developed the Draw-A-Scientist-Test Checklist (DAST-C) to further consider alternative images and facilitate assessment. For this research, the DAST-C was further modified to create the Draw-A-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C). Teachers are asked to, "Draw a picture of yourself as a science teacher at work."

Preliminary results indicate preservice teachers do enter methods courses with a fixed image of themselves as science teachers and that a methods course does in fact introduce new ideas about how to teach science. Pre-course pictures show science teachers standing in a classroom, at a chalkboard, in front of rows of students, and presenting lectures or giving "read the book and answer the questions" directions. Post-course images picture children working in groups, science materials and tools on the student tables, students conversing rather than teachers talking, teachers off to the side (observing), and outdoor classrooms as well.

While the first phase of the DASTT-C opened the door for an opportunity to consider teacher illustrations as data, the second phase considered meaningful applications of DASTT-C data and instrument reliability. These instrument tests have included the help of numerous research colleagues will issue the test prompt and help in the consideration of reviewing the drawings. The intent is to develop a "judgement free" instrument that can be used to identify characteristics across the responses. What do most teachers draw? Do preservice teachers and inservice teachers draw similar pictures? What do elementary science teachers in other countries draw? How do teacher pictures and elementary student pictures differ?

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