Am I a STEM professional? Documenting STEM student professional identity development

Understanding STEM teacher learning in an informal setting: a case study of a novice STEM teacher

“…This resemblance does not come as a surprise to us as they both have one's natural progress and identity development in mind. In line with this study and with other studies which have linked the self-authorship framework to other demographic groups (Gunersel, Barnett, & Etienne, 2013) and to professional identity development instead of personal identity development (Nadelson et al, 2017), we suggest further research should be done to study more STEM teachers who have similarly not undergone teacher education to see if the same results emerge, in addition to teachers who have undergone such education to see if those who have had a standard support system follow a similar pathway or not.…”

“…The adaptability of the self-authorship framework to our informal STEM teacher's progress, as well as to college students, university science students, and college educators (Baxter Magolda, 2004;Gunersel, Barnett, & Etienne, 2013;Nadelson et al, 2017), signals the development of human nature in general. This means skills linked to the stages of self-authorship and internal foundation could come in handy for teachers regardless of the subject they teach, skills such as being able to have one's own voice when it comes to deciding what to do and how to act in social relations.…”

“…The various stories which have shaped this framework during and after one's college years (from ages 18 to 45) show how each person's journey can be unique and the strengthening of one's internal voice can happen at different ages and in different contexts (Baxter Magolda, 2009). This personal identity framework which has been able to support such a vast age range for adults has proven to be quite adaptable as it has been used for professional identity development (Hunter, Laursen, & Seymour, 2007;Nadelson et al, 2017) as well and for other groups such as college educators (Gunersel, Barnett, & Etienne, 2013). When speaking of favorable collegiate outcomes, King and Baxter Magolda (2005) introduced three levels (initial, intermediate, and mature) of intercultural maturity which show how individuals learn to act and understand in interculturally appropriate ways.…”

A Single-Item Measure for Assessing STEM Identity

“…This perspective recognizes that two elements are essential for developing a social identity: (1) seeing oneself as a member of the group, and (2) feeling that the members of the group accept you as a member (Kim et al, 2018). Although the first may be captured by the importance of a social group to one's self-concept, the latter may be better captured by the self-perception that you are a prototypical member of the group-that you possess the skills, knowledge, beliefs, practices, and principles of a member of that particular group (Ibarra, 1999;Nadelson et al, 2015).…”

“…For example, Hazari et al (2013) asked participants whether they see themselves as a biology/chemistry/physics person, which appears to reflect typicality more so than importance (i.e., participants must consider whether they match the characteristics of a "biology person"). Nadelson et al (2015) argued that, for professional identities, it is important to ask students proxy questions for determining the extent to which their attributes, skills, knowledge, etc. match those of a highly identified professional, because otherwise students tend to assume a higher level of identification development than is warranted based on their actual characteristics.…”