Alunos do sétimo ano de uma escola americana foram expostos a uma experiência, pouco científica aliás, de avaliação da sua percepção sobre o que eram cientistas. A experiência decorreu há 10 anos, e visava perceber como as crianças percepcionavam os cientistas, antes e depois de os conhecerem. Obviamente, a exposição a três cientistas, naturalmente pre-escolhidos, influenciou os resultados, como facilmente se conclui ao ler várias análises na Internet.Mas o que me preocupa não são os desenhos dos cientistas, antes e depois. O que me preocupa é o que os alunos escreveram, antes e depois. A endocrinação destas crianças está conseguida, e para quase todas elas, o caminho da ciência deixa de ser o do conhecimento, mas sim o da facilidade. Agora, qualquer um pode ser um cientista, mesmo que não perceba nada daquilo... Atente-se nas suas próprias palavras, com destaques da minha responsabilidade:
| Aluno | Antes | Depois |
|---|---|---|
| Amanda | A scientist is in the Guiness Book of World Records. I see a scientist winning on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" | ....anyone can be a scientist. I saw people walking around in sweatshirts and jeans. Who knows? Maybe I can be a scientist. |
| Amy | I think of a scientist as very dedicated to his work. He is kind of crazy, talking always quickly. He constantly is getting new ideas. He is always asking questions and can be annoying. He listens to others' ideas and questions them. | I know scientists are just normal people with a not so normal job.... Scientists lead a normal life outside of being a scientist. They are interested in dancing, pottery, jogging and even racquetball. Being a scientist is just another job which can be much more exciting. |
| Andrea | You can see them as a mad scientist with hair standing straight up and a mean wicked laugh.... I see them with rubber gloves and safety goggles on. I see them in a chemistry lab surrounded by beakers, graduated cylinders and tables filled with experimental materials. | Scientists love their jobs. They wake up in the morning and are excited to come to work.... When you are a scientist, you come to work ready to explore and learn new things. Things that may change the world someday. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. |
| Andy | A scientist is a person that learns more by experimenting.... A scientist is someone that makes the world a better place. Anyone can be a scientist if he wants to be. | A scientist is a person who tries to make the world a better place. A scientist is a person who tries to learn more about the universe and about life, not to make money and to be famous. |
| Angela | Scientists have a strong impact on our world and my life.... There are so many different kinds of scientists and they have many different personalities. But they all have one thing in common, a love for science and discovery.... Scientist Judy is wearing her white lab coat. She is a very simple person ... simple clothes, simple house, simple personality. | I think everyone has little bit of science "love" in them. They wonder about processes in their life and processes in their body. A scientist is a male or female that enjoys learning about the Earth and its contents. |
| Ashlee | A scientist to me is many things. First she is someone who other people can count on to be right. She can't be afraid to try something new or different. Scientists are always changing and reusing their experiments. | I have learned that a scientist is much more then someone who is crazy about science, they are just like a normal person who has kids and life. They got normal grades in school but they mostly did better in math and science. |
| Ashley | To me, a scientist is bald and has hair coming out of the sides of his head.... Scientists live in their own world and the rest of society puts them there. | "You can not judge a book by the cover!" Scientists come in all shapes and forms. Women, men, chemists, biologists, and physicists are all in the field of science. |
| Beth | The scientist has big square-shaped glasses and a big geeky nose with brown hair and blue eyes. I see a scientist working in a lab with a white lab coat... holding a beaker filled with solutions only he knows. Scientists are very interesting people who can figure out things we don't even know exist. | My picture of a scientist is completely different than what it used to be! The scientist I saw doesn¹t wear a lab coat.... The scientists used good vocabulary and spoke like they knew what they were talking about. |
| Betsy | I see him with glasses. A scientist would be very interesting. He would be quiet and just hear everything before he talked. A scientist would look at every side of a problem or view. | Scientists must love their work because they work an awful long time on one project. Scientists have to find out equations and work on their chalkboards and computers. Scientists try to find out problems like putting together a puzzle. |
| Claire | My scientist is a very good man. He is very smart and went to school for many years. He is somewhat of a workaholic.... He never got into sports as a child; he was always trying to get his straight A grades even higher. | I realized that scientists aren't very different from everyone else.... They are very smart. As children, they had very good grades. Mostly A's.... Their strong subjects were math and science. |
| Dan D. | My scientist also mixes chemicals together. He also teaches at Yale University. He teaches students how to take apart DNA. | I think a scientist is a person who studies objects for information. I also see them as people who can explain things very well.... Many of the scientists played sports, still play some sports or still watch and go to games. |
| Dan S. | I picture a scientist as a genius. I think they can usually calculate almost anything. I think of weird experiments and bottles of chemicals. Also I think of big explosions and atoms and molecules. | Scientists are normal people just like us all. They do the same things and act just like us. Most of them speak foreign languages. Scientists aren't always stuck in their offices. They have lives outside of the labs too. Some like to do outdoor activities; others like to read or do things inside. |
| David | I always see a scientist holding a bottle with a bubbly substance and it is usually a weird color, like green or red. | The scientists are really nice and funny people. I first thought of the scientist as a nerdy person or someone walking around with a laptop. Now after I visited Fermilab I know what a real scientist is like. They are just like you and me. |
| Eric | Dr. Nero, a character I made up ... spends most of his time dedicated to his work. Dr. Nero will work to find a cure for AIDS and cancer. He wants to help people to the full extent of science. | The stereotype gives the impression of a geek with glasses or someone who is bald. Actually, they are just people who ask and answer questions. |
| Gillianne | They help people learn more about their land. Scientists study hard to change our world to make things easier in life. Each year more and more things are being invented by our scientists. | A scientist is not always about testing chemicals; some scientists do other things like study missing energy.... If you have a idea for a project that you want to work on, your boss doesn't stop you; he will tell you to go for it. Scientists do not only work hard; they also have fun with their job. |
| James | When I think of a scientist I think of brainy and very weird people. I think of lots of bottles with chemicals in them. I think of explosions with chemicals. I think of tiny little disks with data information on them. I think of little gadgets that are used for things that I do not know what they are. | A scientist is a normal person. They have a life. Scientists are just like you. Scientists wear normal clothes and not big lab coats. Scientists have hobbies like baseball and volleyball and basketball. A scientist's job looks like a lot of fun. |
| Jeffrey | My scientist would look very smart and intelligent. My scientist would have a pair of glasses and a lab coat. My scientist would also be bald. He would have on blue jeans, a white pair of shoes, and white socks. | Scientists are normal everyday people.... Instead of wearing lab coats, they wear whatever they want and are hardly seen wearing ties at the Fermilab building. The scientists all have computers to work on and all have chalkboards to work out equations. |
| Jesse | To me a scientist is a man who works hard in his lab examining liquid and chemicals. He has a long white coat open. He is fixing his glasses so he can see better. He has pockets full of pens and pencils. | Some people think that (scientists) are just some genius nerds in white coats, but they are actually people who are trying to live up to their dreams and learn more. No two scientists are exactly alike. So, if you want to be a scientist, be like these wonderful people and live up to your dreams. |
| Joe | When I think of a scientist I think of a person who is smart. They also have a little bit of funny joyful in there too. Scientists are very important to us today. | The scientists work hard on their jobs for long hours. Scientists are at a standpoint of trying to find something for many generations ahead that will improve life for people. |
| Katie | I describe my scientist as being medium height with short brown hair and blue or brown eyes. He'd have a sky-blue, button-down shirt. He would also wear black pants or jeans. He would also have numerous white lab coats. | Actually, scientists are normal people that lead normal lives. Their jobs sound very interesting because they can do whatever they want and they still get paid for it. They can dress in casual clothes and decorate their offices however they want. |
| Kevin | The way I see a scientist is with brown hair, a beard, dorky glasses, a white lab coat, pens in his shirt, a blue polo shirt, khaki-colored pants, and a white-colored lab coat. | A scientist to me is a normal person because he probably likes the same things that a normal person would like ... things such as: basketball, the Virgin Islands, science, math, rock climbing, hiking, sports, classical music, and many more things |
| Kierman | I think a scientist is very involved with the Internet. I also think that a scientist is on a very even keel. He is very much organized. He really likes to do the job he does. | A scientist is a person who had very good grades in school. A scientist is a person who can adapt to different languages. A scientist is a person who can relax. A scientist is a person who really likes his job. A scientist, truly, is a normal, happy, nice person. |
| Kyle | My scientist always wears a white coat to protect himself. He's a hard worker and is devoted to his work.... He enjoys his work. He really doesn't take it as work; he calls it his hobby because he would not want to be doing anything else. | ... most of the scientists were in jeans and striped shirts. I even saw a person with a Bulls shirt on.... (Scientists are) interesting, smart people who dedicated their lives to what they like with many other lively endeavors, like kids or marriage. |
| Marisa | A scientist is hard working, studious, detail-oriented, observant, intelligent, exacting, and patient. | Most people think of a scientist as a person who is nerdy, studious, scholarly, and a person who is devoted to her job and doesn't have much of a personality or isn't very interesting. This is a stereotype and today just proves that scientists have lives, interests, hobbies, families and friends. I find that scientists are very, very interesting. |
| Matt | A scientist is willing to learn and is not afraid to be wrong. | With most jobs you might say, "When is it ever going to be five thirty?" But the scientists I talked to say, "Is it five thirty, already?" |
| Michael | To me a scientist is a friendly person. He has a good sense of humor. He is a caring person. He is serious in his studies and experiments. | A scientist ... loves the subject of science and can relate to the subject in everything he/she does. After today I learned that a scientist is more than a person doing experiments; he is a person with a life. |
| Nick | I think a scientist would be very kind and smart (and) would be very devoted and concentrated on his/her work. | Scientists are great people; they solve many problems, which in turn helps us. |
| Pat | I think a scientist is a very intelligent and mathematical person (and) very energetic because they have to stay interested in their work. A scientist looks like a person who is in their 30's to 50's, has glasses, and is somewhat balding. | The scientists were smart but not like geeks.... The scientists were good with kids; they would talk to us so that we could understand them not in scientific terms.... The scientists were like me when I was little. The scientists played sports, hung out with their friends and also did not get straight A's in every subject. |
| Rachel | A scientist helps people solve problems, like finding new medicines and new chemicals and such. It is a person who is fascinated by ways of science and who has the patience to redo and redo things to get an answer. I admire people like that because they help me realize that you always have to do your best to get an answer. | To me scientist are people who like to have fun but are interested in what they can do to make the world better. Scientists ask themselves and other scientists questions like why? and how? something happened. |
| Ryan | I think a scientist is smart and logical. I think scientists are wanting to discover new things. They want to investigate and to make a theory. They want to see if their theory is correct. | Scientists are very different from what most people (think). The scientists (at Fermilab) are friendly and hard working, One of the projects that they are doing is an experiment with a proton accelerator. |
| Sandra | She lives in New York and stays in a big apartment home. She is married and has two children.... Every year she goes on a business trip around the world to get updated on what's happening in science today. | A scientist can have a family of their own and go on vacations a lot.... A scientist also can hang out with their friends and have fun.... Scientists can also like other things aside from science, like pottery, poetry, and basketball. |
