If you use trade books or picture books in your science teaching, how do you choose which books to use with your students? How important is that decision? Do you rely on someone else to evaluate the books so you are assured of their appropriateness and quality? We used the Draw-A-Scientist Test Checklist to examine the illustrations, images, or photographs of scientists portrayed in picture books promoted for use in elementary and middle school classrooms by the National Science Teachers Association in their NSTA Recommends book lists for the last three years. Results revealed that there was much consistency in how scientists were portrayed in the books across the three years, but there were also issues with appropriate numbers of representations of minorities, women, and age of scientists.
How Scientists are Portrayed in NSTA Recommends Books