I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum

Jackson, Phoebe; Seiler, Gale

doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9818-0

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Lastly, we categorized the STEM field or discipline based on the identity described and examined by the researchers within the included studies. For example, the study by Jackson and Seiler (2018) was categorized with the field of science as their purpose was to "show how four latecomers struggling against histories of being recognized as not smart enough to do science, participated in an online interaction in ways that coconstructed two mutually supporting resources to help them position themselves as moving towards science" (p. 764). In the event that researchers examined individual's identities in more than one discipline, we categorized this within STEM.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additional research examined individual's relationship with a particular practice, typically within an institutional or classroom context (e.g., Bartholomew et al 2011;Jackson and Seiler 2018), and how this relationship shaped and defined one's identity development. Many of these studies were grounded in mathematics and science practices as opposed to technology and engineering practices.…”

Section: Identities As a Relationship With A Specific Practice Or Disciplinementioning

confidence: 99%

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Youths’ and Adults’ Identity in STEM: a Systematic Literature Review

Simpson

Bouhafa

2020

Journal for STEM Educ Res

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This study presents a synthesis of the empirical research on identity across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) published between 2000-2018. The research canvassed in this study encompasses a range of contexts and ages. A total of 202 articles were examined in order to determine how identity was emphasized and operationalized within each field and by grade/age bands, as well as the multitude of factors shaping individual's identity within STEM. Results confirmed the complex nature of identity and the internal (e.g., confidence) and external factors (e.g., institutional norms) positively and/or negatively shaping youths' and adults' identity within STEM. These factors are distinguishing and perpetuating the in-group, or those who identify as a member of a STEM field, from the outgroup, or those who do not identify as a member of a STEM field. Additionally, the findings of this study highlighted identity in the field of technology, and with adult participants, as among the least investigated fields and grade/age bands respectively. Conversely, we have a more holistic picture of science and mathematics identities across age/grade bands. Other findings demonstrated an overemphasis on representational identities in comparison to identities as narratives and identities as ways of acting. The findings generated from this review serve in providing research directions concerning identity studies within the STEM field.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identities As a Relationship With A Specific Practice Or Disciplinementioning

confidence: 99%

Youths’ and Adults’ Identity in STEM: a Systematic Literature Review

Simpson

Bouhafa

2020

Journal for STEM Educ Res

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“…Combined with what we have previously reported about the fragility of latecomers’ trajectories toward science (Jackson & Seiler, ) and localized efforts by latecomers to co‐construct new resources to gain access to science (Jackson & Seiler, in press), Jason and Debbie's cases tell us that it was possible for latecomers to engage in successful identity work in their science courses, but it was not easy. The prevalence of the teacher‐centered and sink‐or‐swim cultural models of learning in the figured world of the science program constrained the resources available and often resulted in them being positioned in the less powerful subject position of a good student, rather than good at, or interested in, science.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…As shown, a large gap exists between what latecomers at Island College need to strengthen their trajectories and persist in science (i.e., resources that afford successful and powerful identity work and help learning to use them) and what is available in their courses (i.e., limited resources and little help learning how to use them). Latecomers’ fragile identity trajectories and their histories of mixed academic success and nontraditional educational paths mean that they cannot use many of the most common and powerful available resources to identify as a good science student (e.g., “of course I can do science, I'm obviously smart enough, look at my high school grades”) (Jackson, & Seiler, , in press). This is comparable to the situation Gonsalves () described for women in a doctoral physics program; they do not fit the cultural model of a male doctoral physics student so they must go to great lengths and rely on novel resources to identify with science.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity work in the college science classroom: The cases of two successful latecomers to science

Jackson

Seiler

2017

Sci. Ed.

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In this study, we present the cases of two latecomers to college science who, unlike most latecomers in their program, successfully persisted to graduation. An analytic framework of figured worlds, cultural models, and identity work is employed to understand the challenges they faced. The dominant cultural models of learning that were reproduced in their science courses are explored through data drawn from lecture and laboratory observations, teacher and student interviews, and student journals. The analysis shows that the dominant teacher-centered and sink-or-swim cultural models of learning severely limited the available resources for latecomers' identity work. The resources that were available tended to afford recognition as good students, rather than as being good at, or interested in, science. However, by improvising with the available resources, including some acquired outside of the science program, the two latecomers were sometimes able to reposition themselves in more powerful subject positions, which had far-reaching consequences for their science trajectories. We also demonstrate how using a sociocultural framework and methodological approaches that focus on student-teacher interactions yields insights into the persistence of nontraditional students that are not possible when the focus of research is solely on learning and cognitive gains. K E Y W O R D S identity, figured worlds, non-traditional, postsecondary, trajectories Science Education. 2017;101:716-740.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sce

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“…Resonant with articles in the previous category, Jackson and Seiler (2017, 2018) emphasized the co-construction of disciplines and identities. They draw on the figured worlds framework (Holland et al, 2001) alongside critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2011) to examine how students who enter postsecondary science through nontraditional journeys (“latecomers”) struggle to find ways to achieve status as “good student” or “being good in science” in the classroom.…”

Section: Themes In the Literature Reviewedmentioning

confidence: 98%

Emerging Perspectives on the Co-Construction of Power and Learning in the Learning Sciences, Mathematics Education, and Science Education

Philip

Gupta

2020

Review of Research in Education

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In this chapter, we examine a significant shift in research in the learning sciences, mathematics education, and science education that increasingly attends to the co-construction of power and learning. We review articles in these fields that embody a new sense of theoretical and methodological possibilities and dilemmas, brewing at the intersections of critical social theory and the methodological approaches of interaction analysis and microgenetic analysis. We organize our review into three thematic categories: (1) the dynamic construction of identity and ideology, (2) attending to the organization of a learning environment, and (3) leveraging and repurposing tools. Reading across these thematic areas, we identify and outline a burgeoning subfield that we term critical interaction and microgenetic analysis. By bringing this collection of articles together, this chapter provides collective epistemic and empirical weight to claims of power and learning as co-constituted and co-constructed through interactional, microgenetic, and structural dynamics. In our conclusions, we suggest six analytical commitments that are important to hold when engaging in critical interaction and microgenetic analysis.

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I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

Youths’ and Adults’ Identity in STEM: a Systematic Literature Review

Youths’ and Adults’ Identity in STEM: a Systematic Literature Review

Identity work in the college science classroom: The cases of two successful latecomers to science

Emerging Perspectives on the Co-Construction of Power and Learning in the Learning Sciences, Mathematics Education, and Science Education

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