Science and Scientists

This is a web-version of the instrument used in the SAS-study,
and the formatting is different from the printed version,
This SAS instrument is available in several language translations

Project team:
Jane Mulemwa from Uganda, Jayshree Mehta from India and Svein Sjøberg from Norway

Contact and ©:
Svein Sjøberg, ILS, University of Oslo, PO Box 1099 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, NORWAY Tel (+) 47-22 85 41 55, fax (+) 47-22 85 74 63, E‑mail: Svein.Sjoberg@ils.uio.no Home page: http://www.uio.no/~sveinsj/

A scientist is a person who is curious and tries to find out about new things.
Sometimes they also try to invent and make new things
or find new ways of solving problems.

This booklet contains questions about science and scientists.
The questions are answered by children in many countries.
(That is why some of the questions may seem strange to you!)
The questions have no “right answers”,
but your views may help us to understand how children in different countries think,
and in making science in schools better.

Please answer all questions as well as you can. Start here:

I am ..... years, I come from: ...............................(country) and I am: a girl / a boy

1. Scientists as persons

Here you may express how you think a typical scientist working with physics or engineering is like. Two words are put opposite to each other, like this:

Lazy 1 2 3 4 5 Hard working

If you think the physicist or engineer is a very lazy person, circle number 1 as indicated above. If you think that the physicist is a somewhat hard working person, circle number 4 like this:

Lazy 1 2 3 4 5 Hard working

I think the physicist or engineer is:

Untidy, sloppy 1 2 3 4 5 Tidy, neat, orderly

Intelligent, bright, clever 1 2 3 4 5 Not intelligent, bright or clever

Lacking ideas and imagination 1 2 3 4 5 Imaginative, Full of ideas

Caring for others 1 2 3 4 5 Selfish

Lazy 1 2 3 4 5 Hard working

Unsocial, loner 1 2 3 4 5 Social, outgoing

Boring person 1 2 3 4 5 Interesting and exciting person

Kind, humane 1 2 3 4 5 Unkind

Authoritarian, dominating 1 2 3 4 5 Democratic

Next, do the same as above, but think of a person who works with Biology or medicine

I think the biologist or medical doctor is

Untidy, sloppy 1 2 3 4 5 Tidy, neat, orderly

Intelligent, bright, clever 1 2 3 4 5 Not intelligent, bright or clever

Lacking ideas and imagination 1 2 3 4 5 Imaginative, Full of ideas

Caring for others 1 2 3 4 5 Selfish

Lazy 1 2 3 4 5 Hard working

Unsocial, loner 1 2 3 4 5 Social, outgoing

Boring person 1 2 3 4 5 Interesting and exciting person

Kind, gentle, humane 1 2 3 4 5 Unkind, mean

Authoritarian, dominating 1 2 3 4 5 Democratic

2. Out of school experiences: What I have done

On the following list, you will find activities that you may have been involved in at home or at play ‑ when you are not at school.

For each activity, tick in the right place to indicate your experience. If you do not understand what is meant, leave it blank.

Have you done this outside school?	Often (Many times)	Seldom (Once or twice)	Never
Used needle and thread for sewing
Knitted, or made baskets or mats
Weaved cloth or textiles
Made your own clothes
Used a saw
Used a screw driver
Used hammer and nail
Used rope and pulleys for lifting heavy things
Used hand‑pump for water or other liquids
Climbed a tree
Made toys of wire, wood or other material
Made a kite or toy plane of paper or wood
Played with building kits (like Lego)
Used a radio
Recorded with a tape recorder
Recorded on a video tape recorder
Played video or computer games
Used a calculator
Used a PC (Personal Computer)
Played with light and mirrors
Used a magnifying glass
Used a microscope
Used binoculars
New Page in Original booklet
Used a camera
Developed or processed films
Used a wrist watch
Used a stop watch
Used a measuring tape or stick
Read the scale of a thermometer
Used a kitchen scale or other scale
Read a map or used a compass
Used an air gun or rifle
Made bow and arrows, sling, catapult or boomerang
Preserved food by salting, smoking, drying etc.
Made bread or pastry
Collected edible berries, mushrooms or plants
Made jam or juice from wild berries
Planted and watched seeds grow
Studied the life in a pond
Read about how the body functions
Made compost of grass, leaves or garbage
Made a sieve or filter
Made a funnel of leaves, paper or other material
Put on bandages on wounds or used first‑aid equipment
Watched a bird make its nest
Watched an egg hatching or an animal being born
Watched an animal feeding their babies
Cared for an animal like horse, cow, sheep, goat ...
Milked a cow or a goat
Made yoghurt, butter, cheese or ghee
Made chalk or candles
Had your own pet animal (cat, dog, hamster, rabbit ..)
NEW PAGE IN ORIGINAL
Chopped wood or collected firewood
Made charcoal from wood
Made a fire using wood or charcoal
Made natural colour dies from plants or stones
Put up a tent or other shelter
Walked while balancing a load on your head
Played with magnets
Played with electric batteries and bulbs or motors
Used electric toys (cars, torches etc.)
Changed a fuse or attached electric lead to plug
Studied the inside of a radio, TV, video or similar
Ridden a bicycle
Mended a bicycle tube
Used a car jack or changed wheels on a car
Charged a car battery or other battery
Made a cart or wheelbarrow
Observed or studied the Milky Way or the constellations of the stars
Observed or studied the phases of the moon
Observed or studied the rainbow or different types of clouds
Studied fossils
Made anything from clay
Made bricks for building
Made a flute of straw, branches or wood
Collected stones or gems
Thrown stones on water to watch the ripples
Made a windmill or waterwheel
Blown soap bubbles
Participated in brewing beer or making wine

3. Things to learn about

Imagine that you could decide on what to learn more about. Below is a list of things you would like to learn about or that you enjoyed learning about. Tick the ones that looks interesting to you, leave the others blank

Things I like to learn about	Yes!
The car and how it works
The pollution and dangers of traffic
Why birds and planes can fly
How birds and animals communicate
How animals like birds or fish manage to find their way home
Plants and animals in my neighbourhood
Plants and animals in other parts of the world
How the body is built and functions
Bacteria, virus and how they cause diseases
Vaccination and prevention of diseases
AIDS: What it is and how it spreads
How plants grow, and what they need
How to heat and cook food the best way
What we should eat to be healthy
How babies are made and how they grow and mature
Detergents, soaps and how they work
The evolution of life on earth
Dinosaurs and why they died out
The origin and evolution of the human being
How different plants and animals depend on each other
Light and optics
How the eye can see
What are colours and how do we see different colours?
Acoustics and sound
How animals and plants use colours to hide, attract or scare
New Page in original	Yes!
How the ear can hear
Music, instruments and sounds
Sounds and music from birds and other animals
Earthquakes and volcanoes
Lightning and thunder
Clouds, rain and snow
The rainbow, what it is and why you can see it
The weather and we can forecast it
How mountains, rivers and oceans change and develop
Why the sky is blue and why the stars twinkle
The greenhouse effect and how it might be affected by humans
The ozone layer, how it protects us from the sun and how it might be affected by humans
The moon, the sun and the planets
The universe, the star constellations and the galaxies
Rockets and space travel
The possibility of life outside earth
Electricity, how it is produced and used in the home
New sources of energy: from the sun, from wind etc.
How things like telephone, radio and television work
Computers, PCs and what we can do with them
Latest developments in technology
Sattelites and modern communication
How science and technology may help us to get a better life
The possible dangers of science and technology
What plants we can eat and harvest
Food processing, conservation and storage
Poisonous plants and mushrooms
How to improve the harvest in gardens and farms
How to get clean and safe drinking water
New Page in original	Yes!
How we can protect air, water, woods and the environment
X‑rays and ultrasound in medicine
Test tube babies
Birth control and contraceptives
How children in other parts of the world live and think
Why people in different parts of the world look different and have different colour of the skin
How science and technology may help disabled persons (blind, deaf, physically handicapped etc.)
How scientists think and work
Famous scientists and their lives
Important inventions and discoveries
How a nuclear power plant functions
What an atomic bomb consists of and how they are made
How radioactivity affects life and my own body
Atoms and molecules
Chemicals and their properties

4. Important for future job

If you were free to choose any job or occupation you like, what do you think is important? Below is list of things that may be important to you, and you may indicate wether you consider this aspect to be Very important , Of some importance or Not important

Place a tick at the appropriate place for each factor

Of importance for future occupation or job	Very important	Of some importance	Not important
Work with people instead of things
Have more time for my own friends
Use my talents or abilities
Earn lots of money
Have an exciting job
Have more time for my family
Make my own decisions
Make and invent new things
Control other people
Become famous
Get a secure job
Have more time for my own interests and hobbies
Help other people
Have an easy and simple job
Developing new knowedge and skills

5. Science in action

When you think of "science", what comes to your mind? Place a tick at the words that you connect with science, leave the others blank. You may tick as many places as you like.

Science is ...	Yes!
Interesting, exciting
Boring
Creates problems for society
Creates pollution
Useful for everyday life
Doing experiments
Most suitable for boys
Power
Important for society
Destructive and dangerous
Helping the poor
Difficult to understand
Easy to understand

6. Scientists at work

Drawing

This is how I think a scientist at work may look like

Writing

Write some words about what you think scientists do and what issues they work on

7 WRITING: "Me as a scientist."

Assume that you are grown up and work as a scientist. You are free to work and do research that you think is important and interesting. Write some words about what you would like to do.

THANK YOU, YOU HAVE BEEN VERY HELPFUL!!

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