Abstract
We have followed a group of students in the potential pipeline for science through their last years of upper secondary school and in the context of a university mentorship program. The student group is defined by their choice of Mathematics at A-level which is mandatory for admission to tertiary STEM education in Denmark. Rich data (repeated interviews, questionnaires (pre-and post-) and observations) from 14 target students have been collected. Using Late Modern identity theory as a lens, we have analysed students’ identity narratives in order to establish their trajectories in relation to university in general, and towards science studies and science careers in particular. We find that the diversity of students’ educational identity narratives can be characterized and their trajectories understood in terms of a Four Factor Framework comprising: general identity process orientations (reflecting, committing, exploring), personal values, subject self-concepts and subject interests. In various ways these constructs interact and set the range and direction of the students’ searches for future education and careers. Our longitudinal study suggests that they have enough permanence to enable us to hypothesize more or less secured paths of individual students to tertiary science (or other areas of academia).
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Which was then part of the Faculty of Science at Aarhus University
References
Archer, M. S. (2007). Making our way through the world: Human reflexivity and social mobility. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
Berman, A. M., Schwartz, S. J., Kurtines, W. M., & Berman, S. L. (2001). The process of exploration in identity formation: The role of style and competence. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 513–528.
Brickhouse, N. W., Lowery, P., & Schultz. (2000). What kind of a girl does science? The construction of school science identities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 441–458.
Britner, S. L., & Pajares, F. (2006). Sources of science self-efficacy beliefs of middle school students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43, 485–499.
Brown, B. A. (2004). Discursive identity: Assimilation into the culture of science and its implications for minority students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 810–834.
Brown, B. A., Reveles, J. M., & Kelly, G. J. (2005). Scientific literacy and discursive identity: A theoretical framework for understanding science learning. Science Education, 89, 779–802.
Carlone, H., & Johnson, A. (2007). Understanding the science experiences of successful women of color: Science identity as an analytical lens. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44, 1187–1218.
Carlone, H., Cook, M., Calabrese Barton, A., Wong, J., Sandoval, W., & Brickhouse, N. (2008). Seeing and supporting identity development in science education. In P. Kirschner, F. Prins, V. Jonker, & G. Kanselaar (Eds.), ICLS'08 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on International conference for the learning sciences - Volume 3 (pp. 214–220). Utrecht: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Christensen, O. (2002). Changing attitudes of European youth. Young Consumers, 3, 19–32.
Christidou, V. (2011). Interest, attitudes and images related to science: Combining students' voices with the voices of school science, teachers, and popular science. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 6, 141–159.
Cote, J. E., & Levine, C. G. (2002). Identity formation, agency, and culture - A social psychological synthesis. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Falk, R. F., & Miller, N. B. (1998). The reflexive self: A sociological perspective. Roeper Review, 20, 150–153.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford University Press.
OECD Global Science Forum (2004). Evolution of student interest in science and technology studies. Policy Report OECD.
Grotevant, H. D. (1987). Toward a process model of identity formation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 203–222.
Haussler, P., & Hoffmann, L. (2000). A curricular frame for physics education: Development, comparison with students' interests, and impact on students' achievement end self-concept. Science Education, 84, 689–705.
Holland, D., Lachiotte, W., Jr., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, Massachussetts: Harvard University Press.
Kozoll, R. H., & Osborne, M. D. (2004). Finding meaning in science: Lifeworld, identity, and self. Science Education, 88, 157–181.
Krogh, L. B. (2006). 'Cultural Border Crossings' within the physics classroom – a cultural perspective on youth attitudes towards physics. Steno Department for Studies of Science and Science Education (Ph.D Thesis, In Danish).
Krogh, L. B. (2007). The Ethos of School Science - an analytic framework and the empirical characterization of values and norms within school physics. In Proceedings of the European Science Educational Research Association (ESERA), Malmö, Schweden, August 2007.
Krogh, L. B. (2011). New approaches to the study of students' response to science. In I. M. Saleh & M. S. Khine (Eds.), Attitude research in science education: Classic and contemporary measurements (pp. 45–80). Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Publishers.
Krogh, L. B., & Thomsen, P. V. (2005). Studying students´ attitudes towards science from a cultural perspective but with a quantitative methodology: border crossing into the physics classroom. International Journal of Science Education, 27, 281–302.
La Guardia, J. G. (2009). Developing who I am: A self-determination theory approach to the establishment of healthy identities. Educational Psychologist, 44, 90–104.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551–558.
Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159–187). Toronto: Wiley.
Marcia, J. E. (1988). Common processes underlying ego identity, cognitive/moral development, and individuation. In D. K. Lapsley & F. C. Power (Eds.), Self, ego, and identity integrative approaches (pp. 211–266). New York: Springer Verlag.
Menezes, I., & Campos, B. (1997). The process of value-meaning construction: A cross-sectional study. European Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 55–73.
OECD. (2007). PISA 2006: Science competencies for tomorrows world - volume 1 analysis. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Osborne, J., Simon, S., & Tytler, R. (2009). Attitudes Towards Science - An Update. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California, April 13-17. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/05/84/75/AttitudesTowardScience.pdf .
Renninger, K. A. (2009). Interest and identity development in instruction: An inductive model. Educational Psychology, 44, 105–118.
Riesman, D., Glazer, N., & Denney, R. (2001). The lonely crowd. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Roth, W. M. (2002). Being and becoming in the classroom. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishers.
Schreiner, C. (2006). Exploring af ROSE-garden: Norwegian youth's orientations towards science - seen as signs of late modern identities. Faculty of Education, University of Oslo.
Schreiner, C., & Sjøberg, S. (2007). Science education and youth's identity construction - two incompatible projects? In D. Corrigan, J. Dillon, & R. Gunstone (Eds.), The re-emergence of values in science education (pp. 231–247). Rotherdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Schwartz, S. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Eksperimental social psychology (pp. 1–65). San Diego: Academic Press, Inc.
Sfard, A., & Prusak, A. (2005a). In H. L. Chick & J. L. Vincent (Eds.), Identity that makes a difference: substantial learning as closing the gap between actual and designated identities (pp. 37–52). Melbourne: PME.
Sfard, A., & Prusak, A. (2005b). Telling identities: In search of an analytic tool for investigating learning as a culturally shaped activity. Educational Researcher, 34, 14–22.
Shanahan, M.-C., & Nieswandt, M. (2011). Science student role: Evidence of social structural norms specific to school science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 367–395.
Tan, E., & Barton, A. (2008). Unpacking science for all through the lens of identities-in-practice: The stories of Amelia and Ginny. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3, 43–71.
Tucker-Raymond, E., Varelas, M., Pappas, C., Korzh, A., & Wentland, A. (2007). "They probably aren't named Rachel": Young children's scientist identities as emergent multimodal narratives. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1, 559–592.
Ugebrevet mandag morgen (1998). Hvad kommer livet os ved? Mandag Morgen Strategisk Forum.
Ziehe, T. (1989). Ambivalens og mangfoldighed [Ambivalence and Multiplicity]. København (in Danish): Politisk Revy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krogh, L.B., Andersen, H.M. “Actually, I May be Clever Enough to do it”. Using Identity as a Lens to Investigate Students’ Trajectories Towards Science and University. Res Sci Educ 43, 711–731 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-012-9285-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-012-9285-2