From peripheral to central, the story of Melanie's metamorphosis in an urban middle school science class

Abstract

Identity formation is a critical dimension of how and why students engage in science to varying degrees. In this paper, we use the lens of identity formation, and in particular identities in practice, to make sense of how and why Melanie, over the course of sixth grade, transformed from a marginalized member of the science class with a failing grade to a highly valued member of the sixth-grade science community with a perfect score of a 100% for the sixth-grade exit project. Our findings reveal that the different figured worlds of the science classroom, such as whole class, small group work, and individual work, offered Melanie different affordances for identity formation that were built upon across such spaces, in both productive and unproductive ways. Our findings also take up the kinds of critical roles that members of her classroom community, in particular teacher and peers, play in supporting and constraining such a transformation. We discuss the implications identity formation has for understanding issues of gender equity and science learning.

Transforming Science Learning and Student Participation in Sixth Grade Science: A Case Study of a Low-Income, Urban, Racial Minority Classroom

“…They discuss animal and plant care with Mr. M, work with him to keep the animals clean, and accompany him to the pet store across the street to get supplies. We found that gaining expertise in these informal spaces and building a relationship with Mr. M often translated into students being better positioned to participate more centrally in the formal science lessons (see Tan & Calabrese Barton, 2008). Table 1 summarizes the pedagogical strategies Mr. M enacts to tap into the nontraditional resources in creating these figured worlds.…”

Growing Plants and Scientists: Fostering Positive Attitudes toward Science among All Participants in an Afterschool Hydroponics Program

“…In multiple projects with racially diverse children from low-income backgrounds, Barton and colleagues (Barton 2003;Basu and Barton 2007;Tan and Barton 2008) have found that situating science learning in contexts and problems relevant to the participants, and positioning participants as central creators of knowledge that could be used to solve problems encouraged participants to engage with science and see themselves as scientists. Rather than focusing on teaching specific science content, this approach connected to the science in participants' daily lives to reconceptualize science as a context in which the participants were already experts (Barton 2003).…”

Content Learning and Identity Construction: A Framework to Strengthen African American Students’ Mathematics and Science Learning in Urban Elementary Schools

“…But, they are also performances we enact as we interact with others [Gee, 2002;Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998] -identities-in-practice , carved out in 'figured worlds' peopled by figures, characters, and actors who carry out tasks with distinguishable perspectives, styles, and orientations. As people become more (or less) central members of a community (i.e., a classroom community), changes in identity accompany changes in position and status [Berry, 2008;Carlone & Johnson, 2007;Jackson, 2009;Tan & Barton, 2008;Varelas, Becker, Luster, & Wenzel, 2002]. Changes in position and status, in turn, offer people different opportunities to engage with ideas, constructs, processes, and artifacts that are available in the community in narrated and performed ways.…”