**3. Science identity**

*Early Childhood Education*

scientists naturally.

will our future scientists learn about nature?"

approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and early education that is student centered and uses self-directed, in relationship-driven environments. The Montessori method views the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment. Regardless which curricula focus, the environment is the third teacher and science is taught in that environment. Thus, children assume the role of

In the book, *The Last Child in The Woods*, the author, Richard Louv, even cautions against the opposite experience, "If education and other forces intentionally and unintentionally, continue to push the young away from direct experience in nature, the cost to science itself will be high. Most scientists today began their careers as children, chasing bugs and snakes, collecting spiders, and feeling awe in the presence of nature. Since such untidy activities are fast disappearing, how, then,

However, we know that it is not practical that all children develop into scientists, but rather it is to not turn children off to science careers precisely when they are the most open to it. It appears that the more children go through formalized science in schools, the less they like and enjoy science and think about themselves in science careers. Therefore, the formative early childhood years become even more precious when it comes to lifelong aspirations. For example, we know that girls especially self-select out of math and science careers by age 10, which means what happens in early childhood years is extremely important [1]. While it is generally accepted that adolescents need to begin to think and plan for career choices, this suggests that even long before children are able to express or verbalize which careers may be interesting to them, they are processing information about their possible future. As young children gather lots of information from parents, media, books, and schools, they collect, reject, and store ideas about scientists conceptually. For these reasons, asking children to Draw-A-Scientist has become an accepted method to provide a glimpse into how children represent and identify with those in the science fields. This chapter looks broadly at the critical aspects involved in on the different phases of one's academic life in order to observe how early childhood students take a variety of experiences with scientists and internalize them into their own science identities. Some of the central experiences discussed are perceptions of scientists at crucial developmental times in relation to formal schooling. For example, the biographies of Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin suggested that the very foundations of modern industry and design grew first in the waters and woods and farmlands of childhood [2]. This chapter will now discuss how to recognize stereotypes in science, what stereotypes mean, and how to combat these stereotypes.

**2. How to recognize stereotypes about scientists in young children**

Stereotypes are what people think something is like with limited information. Unless one is presented with more information, they may never broaden or change an original idea or conception. They remain unfixed. Stereotypes can manifest in numerous different ways. Sometimes it is very obvious. In science, it can be as simple as hearing a parent say, "I was not good at science," or "science is for boys." At the early childhood age, it can be as simple as a child saying, "I want to dress as a mad scientist for Halloween." Other times, it is more subtle, like the desire not to be

Sometimes children act a particular way, to reinforce a stereotype or to get a particular reaction from a parent or not. Young children use a variety of experiences to test out their identities in science and "check" with the adults in their lives for

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like "the smart kids."

Science identity, as defined by [8], demonstrates competent performance in relevant scientific practices with deep meaningful knowledge and understanding of science and recognizes oneself and gets recognized as a science person by others. The construction of this identity requires the participation of others as it is constructed socially within communities of practice [9]. Students develop identities through engaging with the practices and tasks of the science class upon entering a community of practice such as the science classroom [10]. Learning science in this community then becomes "a process of becoming to be, of forging identities in activity" ([10], p. 3).

Regrettably, in early childhood many students form perceptions of scientists and science that are narrow, inappropriate, and inaccurate [11–16]. Older elementary students included more indicators of stereotypical images in their illustrations than did 5- to 7-year-olds, suggesting that by fourth and fifth grades, students already have formed their limited views of who a scientist is [12]. Inaccurate views of scientists are widely held by students from elementary through high school [12]. In 6 years of research, having children draw pictures of scientists that are stereotypical, male images of white men in the laboratory increased with age [17]. Therefore, the least stereotypes are drawn by the youngest children [18]. In the examination of gender differences, only girls draw female scientists, and the majority of the female scientists are drawn by Kindergarten to second grade students, meaning children are less aware of the gender stereotypes associated with scientists at the youngest of ages [18]. Parents and teachers should provide experiences for young children that lead them toward rich and rewarding experiences in science [19].
