Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production

Abstract

Identity production is a complex process in which a person determines who he or she is via internal dialogue and sociocultural participation. Understanding identity production is important in biology education, because students’ identities impact classroom experiences and their willingness to persist in the discipline. Thus, we suggest that educators foster spaces where students can engage in producing science identities that incorporate positive perceptions of who they are and what they have experienced. We used Holland’s theory of identity and Urrieta’s definitions of conceptual identity production (CIP) and procedural identity production (PIP) to explore the process of students’ science identity production. We interviewed 26 students from five sections of a general biology course for majors at one higher education institution. The interview protocol included items about students’ identities, influential experiences, perceptions of science, and perceptions of their classroom communities. From the interviews, we developed hierarchical coding schemes that focused on characterizing students’ CIP and PIP. Here, we describe how students’ socially constructed identities (race, gender, etc.) and their experiences may have impacted the production of their science identities. We found that authoring (i.e., making meaning of) experiences and recognition by others as a community member influenced students’ science identity production.

A Pandemic Crash Course: Learning to Teach Equitably in Synchronous Online Classes

“…Second, participation supports identity development (Boaler and Greeno, 2000). When students have an opportunity to participate and see others who they identify with participate, they develop a greater sense of belonging within the discipline (Lewis et al, 2016;Le et al, 2019).…”

Transfer Student Experiences and Identity Navigation in STEM: Overlapping Figured Worlds of Success

“…The structure of these culturally reproduced spaces can be defined by systems of social reproduction that are sustained by actors who configure their identities in relation to cultural norms and practices (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990;Holland et al,1998). For example, the higher education classroom is a space with norms that have been historically situated and passed through generations (Le et al, 2019). Educators and students are actors who construct their attitudes, behaviors, and identities in relation to these norms.…”

“…Studies of identity are often centralized around agency, but the figured worlds framework also examines the complex interplay of agency with institutional and cultural norms and personal backgrounds and experiences. Given that the figured worlds construct has previously connected identity to classroom learning and engagement in both K-12 and higher education (e.g., Langer-Osuna, 2015;Le et al, 2019), this construct can be used to gain a fundamental understanding of how students author or position their identities across different contexts and in relation to sociocultural norms (Holland et al, 1998;Urrieta, 2007;Chang, 2014). Identities are often negotiated when navigating through sociocultural spaces, and students pursuing STEM may need to reconfigure who they understand themselves to be if traditional teaching practices are perceived to promote a narrow range of identities (Costa, 1995;Holland et al, 1998;Carlone and Johnson, 2007;Rubin, 2007).…”

The Anatomy of Persistence: Remediation and Science Identity Perceptions in Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology

“…The "Recognition" subconstruct within science identity also overlapped with the theoretical model and interviewees' experiences, as the mismatch of our interviewees' expectations and the grades they received in their previous and current enrollment speaks to their sense of a lack of recognition. When participating in science activities, recognition from faculty (Thompson & Jensen-Ryan, 2018) and peers (Le, Doughty, Thompson, & Hartley, 2019) supports students' science identity development in undergraduate biology contexts, but perhaps the importance of recognition extends beyond the affirmation of science practices to the affirmation of academic practices. Participants reported practicing allied health careers through their jobs as certified nursing assistants, which illuminates a way they may perform their science identities in a competent way.…”