A view of science as a culturally-mediated way of thinking and knowing suggests that learning can be defined as engagement with scientific practices. How students engage in school science is influenced by whether and how students view themselves and whether or not they are the kind of person who engages in science. It is therefore crucial to understand students' identities and how they do or do not overlap with school science identities. In this paper, we describe four middle school African American girls' engagement with science. They were selected in the 7th grade because they expressed a fondness for science in school or because they had science-related hobbies outside of school. The data were collected from the following sources: interviews of students, their parents and their teachers; observations in science classes; journal writing; and focus groups. These girls' stories provide us with a better understanding of the variety of ways girls choose to engage in science and how this engagement is shaped by their views of what kind of girl they are.

The effect of teachers' beliefs about the nature of science on their classroom practice was exam ined. Three science teachers were interviewed to elucidate their understanding of science and science teaching. To make connections between their thinking about science and their actions in teaching science, each teacher's classes were observed for at least 35 hours. The teachers differed in their views of the nature of scientific theories, scientific processes, and the progression and change of scientific knowledge. Teachers' beliefs about science influenced not only explicit lessons about the nature of science, but also shaped an implicit curriculum concerning the nature of scientific knowledge.

In this article we examine the scientific identity formation of two young women of color who attend an urban vocational high school. One young woman lives in an urban setting, while the other lives in a suburban setting. We describe how these young women's identities influence and respond to experiences in school science. In particular, we describe how the experience of marginalization can make membership in a school science community impossible or undesirable. We also describe the advantages that accrue to students who fit well with the ideal identities of an urban school. Finally, we describe some of the difficulties students face who aspire to scientific or technological competence yet do not desire to take on aspects of the identities associated with membership in school science communities. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 965–980, 2001

This article is a case study of a second-year middle school science teacher's beliefs about science and science teaching and how these beliefs influenced-or failed to influence-classroom instruction. It illustrates how beginning teachers struggle to reconcile (a) conflicting beliefs about what is desirable, and (b) conflicts between what they believe is desirable and what is possible within the constraints of their preparation and the institutions in which they work. This teacher, for example, struggled to reconcile his view of science as a creative endeavor with his belief that students need to be provided with a high degree of structure in order to learn within the context of formal schooling. He also had difficulty resolving the conflict between the informal ("messing about") type of science learning that he believed was desirable and the personal and institutional constraints he faced in the classroom.

No abstract