Over the recent years, identity has become one of the most central theoretical concept and topics of scholarship in a number of disciplines, including science education. In this volume, leading science educators articulate in carefully prepared case studies their theoretical perspective on science, learning, and identity. More importantly, the authors of the chapters that in the different parts of the book engage each other in a collaboratively written chapter concerning some of the central issues that have arisen from their individual studies; and in particular they engage each other over the similarities and differences between their approaches. This book, which features detailed case studies of identity as both resource and outcomes of learners in a variety of settings, will be of interest to anyone concerned with learning science in and out-of schools. The book also caters for readers who have wondered about how identity mediates science learning and, simultaneously, how engagement in science-related tasks and activities mediates the emergence and development of identities. The general tenor of all chapters is a cultural-historical and sociocultural framework that is brought to issues of identity, thereby inherently transcending the individual person and linking identity to cultural possibilities.

In this edited volume, science education scholars engage with the constructs of identity and identity construction of learners, teachers, and practitioners of science. Reports on empirical studies and commentaries serve to extend theoretical understandings related to identity and identity development vis-à-vis science education, link them to empirical evidence derived from a range of participants, educational settings, and analytic foci, examine methodological issues in identity studies, and project fruitful directions for research in this area. Using anthropological, sociological, and socio-cultural perspectives, chapter authors depict and discuss the complexity, messiness, but also potential of identity work in science education, and show how critical constructs–such as power, privilege, and dominant views; access and participation; positionality; agency-structure dialectic; and inequities–are integrally intertwined with identity construction and trajectories. Chapter authors examine issues of identity with participants ranging from first graders to pre-service and in-service teachers, to physics doctoral students, to show ways in which identity work is a vital (albeit still underemphasized) dimension of learning and participating in science in, and out of, academic institutions. Moreover, the research presented in this book mostly concerns students or teachers with racial, ethno-linguistic, class, academic status, and gender affiliations that have been long excluded from, or underrepresented in, scientific practice, science fields, and science-related professions, and linked with science achievement gaps. This book contributes to the growing scholarship that seeks to problematize various dominant views regarding, for example, what counts as science and scientific competence, who does science, and what resources can be fruitful for doing science.

This edited volume brings together a state-of-the-art collection of leading and emergent research on the burgeoning topic of science identities. It sets out how science identity can be productively used as a lens in understanding patterns and inequalities in science participation across different educational and international contexts. Its chapters reveal how intersections of social identities and inequalities shape participation and engagement in science. Particular attention is given to explicating issues of theory and method, identifying the potential and limitations of approaches and lacunae in existing knowledge. The book showcases research from a range of disciplinary areas, employing diverse methodological and conceptual approaches to investigate science identities across different fields and settings. The collection offers a rich and comprehensive understanding of how science identity can be used conceptually, methodologically and analytically to understand how learners and teachers relate to, and make sense of, science. It’s a valuable resource for students, researchers and academics in the field of science education and anyone who is interested in identity and education.

The overarching goal of this book volume is to illuminate how research on science teacher identity has deepened and complicated our understanding of the role of identity in examining teacher learning and development. The collective chapters, both theoretical and empirical, present an array of conceptual underpinnings that have been used to frame science teacher identity, document the various methodological approaches that researchers have implemented in order to study science teacher identity within various contexts, and offer empirical evidence about science teacher identity development. The findings of the studies presented in this volume support the argument that teacher identity is a dynamic, multidimensional and comprehensive construct, which provides a powerful lens for studying science teacher learning and development for various reasons. First, it pushes our boundaries by extending our definitions of science teacher learning and development as it proposes new ways of conceptualizing the processes of becoming a science teacher. Second, it emphasizes the role of the context on science teacher learning and development and pays attention to the experiences that teachers have as members of various communities. Third, it allows us to examine the impact of various sub-identities, personal histories, emotions, and social markers, such as ethnicity, race, and class, on science teachers’ identity development. The book aims at making a unique and deeply critical contribution to notions around science teacher identity by proposing fresh theoretical perspectives, providing empirical evidence about identity development, offering a set of implications for science teacher preparation, and recommending directions for future research.

The national drive to increase the number of students pursuing Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers has brought science identity into focus for educators, with the need to determine what encourages students to pursue and persist in STEM careers. Science identity, the degree to which students think someone like them could be a scientist is a potential indicator of students pursuing and persisting in STEM related fields. Science identity, as defined by Carlone and Johnson (2007) consists of three constructs: competence, performance, and recognition. Students need to feel like they are good at science, can perform it well, and that others recognize them for these achievements in order to develop a science identity. These constructs can be bolstered by student visitation to informal education centers. Informal education centers, such as outdoor science schools, museums, and various learning centers can have a positive impact on how students view themselves as scientists by exposing them to novel and unique learning opportunities unavailable in their school. Specifically, the University of Idaho's McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) focuses on providing K-12 students with the opportunity to learn about science with a place-based, hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum that hopes to foster science identity development. To understand the constructs that lead to science identity formation and the impact the MOSS program has on science identity development, several questions were explored examining how students define the constructs and if the MOSS program impacted how they rate themselves within each construct. A mixed-method research approach was used consisting of focus group interviews with students and pre, post, one-month posttests for visiting students to look at change in science identity over time. Results from confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the instrument created is a good fit for examining science identity and the associated constructs for students attending the MOSS residential program. Analysis of results from paired-samples t-test indicates that MOSS does contribute to a positive change in science identity and this change does persist one month following the visit to MOSS, although a slight decline is seen. The results from this research and creation of this instrument provide useful tools for educators interested in increasing their students' science identity.

Research in science education is now an international activity. This book asks for the first time, Does this research activity have an identity? -It uses the significant studies of more than 75 researchers in 15 countries to see to what extent they provide evidence for an identity as a distinctive field of research. -It considers trends in the research over time, and looks particularly at what progression in the research entails. -It provides insight into how researchers influence each other and how involvement in research affects the being of the researcher as a person. -It addresses the relation between research and practice in a manner that sees teaching and learning in the science classroom as interdependent with national policies and curriculum traditions about science. It gives graduate students and other early researchers an unusual overview of their research area as a whole. Established researchers will be interested in, and challenged by, the identity the author ascribes to the research and by the plea he makes for the science content itself to be seen as problematic.

This Edited Volume engages with concepts of gender and identity as they are mobilized in research to understand the experiences of learners, teachers and practitioners of physics. The focus of this collection is on extending theoretical understandings of identity as a means to explore the construction of gender in physics education research. This collection expands an understanding of gendered participation in physics from a binary gender deficit model to a more complex understanding of gender as performative and intersectional with other social locations (e.g., race, class, LGBT status, ability, etc). This volume contributes to a growing scholarship using sociocultural frameworks to understand learning and participation in physics, and that seeks to challenge dominant understandings of who does physics and what counts as physics competence. Studying gender in physics education research from a perspective of identity and identity construction allows us to understand participation in physics cultures in new ways. We are able to see how identities shape and are shaped by inclusion and exclusion in physics practices, discourses that dominate physics cultures, and actions that maintain or challenge structures of dominance and subordination in physics education. The chapters offered in this book focus on understanding identity and its usefulness in various contexts with various learner or practitioner populations. This scholarship collectively presents us with a broad picture of the complexity inherent in doing physics and doing gender.

The overarching goal of this book volume is to illuminate how research on science teacher identity has deepened and complicated our understanding of the role of identity in examining teacher learning and development. The collective chapters, both theoretical and empirical, present an array of conceptual underpinnings that have been used to frame science teacher identity, document the various methodological approaches that researchers have implemented in order to study science teacher identity within various contexts, and offer empirical evidence about science teacher identity development. The findings of the studies presented in this volume support the argument that teacher identity is a dynamic, multidimensional and comprehensive construct, which provides a powerful lens for studying science teacher learning and development for various reasons. First, it pushes our boundaries by extending our definitions of science teacher learning and development as it proposes new ways of conceptualizing the processes of becoming a science teacher. Second, it emphasizes the role of the context on science teacher learning and development and pays attention to the experiences that teachers have as members of various communities. Third, it allows us to examine the impact of various sub-identities, personal histories, emotions, and social markers, such as ethnicity, race, and class, on science teachers’ identity development. The book aims at making a unique and deeply critical contribution to notions around science teacher identity by proposing fresh theoretical perspectives, providing empirical evidence about identity development, offering a set of implications for science teacher preparation, and recommending directions for future research.

This Edited Volume engages with concepts of gender and identity as they are mobilized in research to understand the experiences of learners, teachers and practitioners of physics. The focus of this collection is on extending theoretical understandings of identity as a means to explore the construction of gender in physics education research. This collection expands an understanding of gendered participation in physics from a binary gender deficit model to a more complex understanding of gender as performative and intersectional with other social locations (e.g., race, class, LGBT status, ability, etc). This volume contributes to a growing scholarship using sociocultural frameworks to understand learning and participation in physics, and that seeks to challenge dominant understandings of who does physics and what counts as physics competence. Studying gender in physics education research from a perspective of identity and identity construction allows us to understand participation in physics cultures in new ways. We are able to see how identities shape and are shaped by inclusion and exclusion in physics practices, discourses that dominate physics cultures, and actions that maintain or challenge structures of dominance and subordination in physics education. The chapters offered in this book focus on understanding identity and its usefulness in various contexts with various learner or practitioner populations. This scholarship collectively presents us with a broad picture of the complexity inherent in doing physics and doing gender.