Science is a source of innovation, but are scientists perceived as creative? This question seems particularly important, as the way in which science and scientists are perceived might affect students’ attitudes towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). If this perception is biased or overly stereotypical, it might have a detrimental effect on whether students will consider pursuing a science-related career. In this study, we investigated Polish elementary school students’ implicit theories of creativity in science. Nearly five hundred students (N = 489, 54% girls) were asked to produce detailed drawings representing how they perceive a scientist. Each drawing was then scored in several categories, with a particular focus on the signs of stereotypical perception of scientists. This stereotypical perception was found to be quite persistent: more than half of the drawings contained at least one stereotypical element (most predominantly male gender). The degree of the stereotypical depiction of scientists was higher among boys than girls and negatively related to students’ learning goals. We discuss the theoretical consequences of these findings as well as future research directions.

科学是创新的源泉，但科学家们被认为具有创造力吗？这个问题似乎特别重要，因为人们对科学和科学家的看法可能会影响学生对 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）的态度。如果这种看法有偏见或过于刻板，可能会对学生是否会考虑从事与科学相关的职业产生不利影响。在这项研究中，我们调查了波兰小学生关于科学创造力的内隐理论。近五百名学生（N = 489, 54% 的女孩）被要求制作详细的图画，代表她们对科学家的看法。然后，每幅画都被分为几个类别，特别关注科学家刻板印象的迹象。人们发现这种刻板印象非常持久：超过一半的图纸包含至少一种刻板印象元素（主要是男性）。男孩对科学家刻板印象的程度高于女孩，并且与学生的学习目标呈负相关。我们讨论了这些发现的理论后果以及未来的研究方向。