“Anybody can do science if they're brave enough”: Understanding the role of science capital in science majors' identity trajectories into and through postsecondary science

Abstract

This article reports on research investigating the experiences and resources that make science thinkable for undergraduate science majors as they engage in postsecondary science contexts. We regard these experiences and resources as contributing to science majors' science capital, and we suggest that science capital accumulates over time across identity trajectories. Using a multiple case study approach, we characterize seven undergraduate science majors' identity trajectories that they narrate through their stories of experiences with science in school, out of school and into postsecondary education. We examine how they navigate sources of science capital (e.g., families, science outreach), and the value they attribute to their science capital once they enter science programs in university. We also consider how their access to science capital influences their reasons for engaging in science outreach. To characterize students' movements into postsecondary education, and their experiences in postsecondary science, we crafted three identity trajectories: the “expected trajectory,” “persistent trajectory” and the “new directions trajectory.” These trajectories helped us to examine how science majors' identities mediate their perceptions of the use and exchange values of their science capital and the doxa of science that they legitimate. This study contributes to our understanding of how science capital operates along identity trajectories into postsecondary science, and demonstrates that simply having access to resources that contribute to students' accumulation of science capital is not sufficient for sustained engagement in science.

Constructing STEM identity: An expanded structural model for STEM identity research

“…However, casual talk experiences may not be identified as habitus when using frameworks such as Archer et al's (2012) where habitus is described as going "beyond simplistic, conscious forms of identification with science (e.g., attitudes to/liking of science)" (p. 885)implying that parents without scientific backgrounds or access to resources to facilitate these conversations are less capable of engaging in identity-supportive science talk with their children. Gonsalves et al's (2021) study of the factors that supported undergraduate science majors' science identity trajectories reinforces the importance of family science background as a foundation for home science talk. Their findings illustrated that science conversations were common in households where a family member held a STEM career, and these conversations facilitated students' interest in science and their perspective that science careers were a fit for them.…”

A Educação Em Ciências E a Teoria Dos Capitais De Bourdieu: Uma Revisão Crítica Do Conceito De Science Capital

“…Outros artigos teceram críticas mais diretas ao conceito, como Stahl et al (2021) que coloca que é imprescindível considerar a influência da questão geográfica (proximidade de recursos relacionados à ciência) na geração e estímulo do capital da ciência. Gonsalves et al (2021) investigaram o papel do capital da ciência na construção das trajetórias de identidade e jornada de estudantes na ciência. O capital da ciência se mostrou como um fator que estimula os estudantes a seguirem estudando em áreas relacionadas à ciência, ao, por exemplo, construir na identidade do estudante uma visão de que a ciência é para todos (Gonsalves et al 2021).…”

“…Gonsalves et al (2021) investigaram o papel do capital da ciência na construção das trajetórias de identidade e jornada de estudantes na ciência. O capital da ciência se mostrou como um fator que estimula os estudantes a seguirem estudando em áreas relacionadas à ciência, ao, por exemplo, construir na identidade do estudante uma visão de que a ciência é para todos (Gonsalves et al 2021). Contudo, ao avançar para o ensino superior os estudantes analisados encontraram dificuldades em aumentar ou em transformar seus volumes de capital da ciência, devido a algumas formas do capital da ciência (coletividade e estímulos por gostar dos assuntos de ciência) não serem valorizadas nessa nova etapa de escolarização (Gonsalves et al, 2021).…”

“…O capital da ciência se mostrou como um fator que estimula os estudantes a seguirem estudando em áreas relacionadas à ciência, ao, por exemplo, construir na identidade do estudante uma visão de que a ciência é para todos (Gonsalves et al 2021). Contudo, ao avançar para o ensino superior os estudantes analisados encontraram dificuldades em aumentar ou em transformar seus volumes de capital da ciência, devido a algumas formas do capital da ciência (coletividade e estímulos por gostar dos assuntos de ciência) não serem valorizadas nessa nova etapa de escolarização (Gonsalves et al, 2021). Tannock (2020) tece uma crítica, a partir de três pontos, sobre a relação desse conceito (financiamento e propósito) com a dimensão empresarial.…”

Food for thought: Immersive storyworlds as a way into scientific meaning‐making

“…While there is an robust literature documenting and defining “belonging” (e.g., Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Walton & Brady, 2017), many studies in science education reference it in ways that are inconsistently intertwined with concepts such as identity, motivation, attitudes, and representation, among others (e.g., Brockman, 2021; Fredricks et al, 2004; Trujillo & Tanner, 2014). Perhaps almost as frequently, many researchers use the term but do not define it (e.g., Gonsalves et al, 2021; Schmidt et al, 2020) perhaps because, as Baumeister and Leary (1995) describe, it is a fundamental human need—something we all know and feel when it is present and when it is absent. Most studies of belonging take place in K‐12 or higher education settings, and numerous are concerned specifically with the ways in which belonging relates to learning in terms of supporting persistence and ultimately commitment to a social setting, such as school, or disciplinary practice, such as biology (e.g., see Korpershoek et al, 2020).…”