When drawing scientists. U. S. children now depict (描画) female scientists more often than ever, according to new Northwestern University research, which has analyzed five decades of “Draw-A-Scientist” studies conducted since the 1960s.

This change suggests that children’s stereotypes (刻板印象) linking science with men have weakened over time, said the researchers, consistent with more women becoming scientists and children’s media depicting more female scientists on television shows and other media.

In the first study, conducted between 1968 and 1979, less than one percent of 5,000 children drew an image resembling a woman when asked to draw a scientist. Almost all their artwork depicted men working with laboratory equipment, often with lab coats, glasses and facial hair.

But in later studies (1988 to 2019), 28 percent of children drew a female scientist, on average. In addition, both girls and boys drew female scientists more often over time, though girls overall drew female scientists much more often than boys.

“Our results suggest that children’s stereotypes change as women’s and men’s roles change in society.” said study lead author David Miller. “Children still draw more male than female scientists, but that is expected because women remain a minority in several science fields.”

The researchers also studied how children form stereotypes about scientists across child development. The results suggested children did not associate science with men until grade school; around age 5, they drew roughly equal percentages of male and female scientists. During elementary and middle school, the tendency to draw male scientists increased strongly with age. Older children were also more likely to draw scientists with lab coats and glasses, suggesting that children learn other stereotypes as they mature.

“These changes across children’s age likely reflect that children’s exposure to male scientists accumulates during development, even in recent years.” said Miller.

“To build on cultural changes, teachers and parents should present children with multiple examples of female scientists across many contexts such as science courses, television shows and informal conversations,” Miller said.

【小题1】What is the change in children drawing scientists?

A．Children draw more male scientists.

B．Children draw more female scientists.

C．Girls draw more scientists than boys.

D．Children draw more female than male scientists.

【小题2】What does Miller think of children drawing more male scientists than female scientists?

A．It’s not surprising.	B．It’s not reasonable.
C．It’s unexpected.	D．It’s not acceptable.

【小题3】What does paragraph 6 mainly talk about?

A．How children develop their drawings.

B．How children’s stereotypes change with age.

C．Why children draw more male scientists.

D．What scientists look like in children’s drawings.

【小题4】According to Miller, how can we make children draw more female scientists?

A．By encouraging children to attend science courses.

B．By encouraging children to become scientists in the future.

C．By giving children an example of drawing female scientists.

D．By making female scientists known to children in various situations.