Exploring when, why, and how students circumscribe and compromise science careers

Science interest is decreasing in the United States, and Americans of all ages have growing mistrust toward science and scientists, potentially sourcing these negative perceptions from their youth and today's popular culture. Understanding the nature of how K-12 students perceive scientists and science careers is vital to understanding how their perceptions of science and scientists turn toward negative or harmful stereotypes of scientists and science, causing them to eschew science and science careers. This study used the circumscription and compromise (C&C) theory of career development to discern when (grade level), why (gender), and how (perceptions) students eliminate (circumscribe) science careers within distinct stages of development, thus compromising on what they perceive to be an acceptable future career. Using the Draw-a-Scientist Test, 576 students from two private, K-12 schools in Texas and North Carolina were sampled to model how (using prescribed C&C stages) and why (via thematic coding) this circumscription occurs.