Identity negotiation within peer groups during an informal engineering education program: The central role of leadership‐oriented youth

Pattison, Scott; Gontan, Ivel; Ramos‐Montañez, Smirla; Moreno, Lauren

doi:10.1002/sce.21459

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…First, social networks in support of learning and doing engineering can be expanded by involving community members—not just peers and STEM experts—in engineering design. Pattison, Gontan, Ramos‐Montañez, and Moreno () in their work on recognizing and positioning the situated identities of youth in engineering design activities state: “Youth, and especially those from traditionally underserved and underresourced communities, often must juggle multiple identities and navigate a variety of social and cultural barriers as they develop their relationships with engineering and STEM” (p. 1001). In Christopher's positionality statement, although he was recognized by his Green Club peers, David and Kaleel and his STEM mentors, he still did not feel that his engineering work was transformative for the people that would be best benefitted by his engineering design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critically engaging engineering in place by localizing counternarratives in engineering design

et al. 2019

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In this manuscript, we use the construct of critical epistemologies of place to frame our exploration of how to support engineering design among youth who have historically been marginalized from the domain, and its implications for educational settings. We present an in‐depth longitudinal case study of one 12‐year‐old African American boy to raise questions of what it means for this youth to engage in engineering design in collaboration with the people around in him—experts and knowledgeable others in his community space and how this engagement supports his work in science and engineering. This study suggests that engaging engineering design through a critical epistemology of place involves an iterative and generative process of layering community wisdom and knowledge onto STEM toward (a) how epistemologies of place—and their layers—challenge dominant master narratives, (b) reimagining practices in place, and (c) transforming the dangerous territory of STEM. Our study expands upon current understandings of supporting youth in engaging engineering through highlighting the vital role of sociohistorically constructed understandings of STEM and community in determining when, how, and why engineering takes place.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critically engaging engineering in place by localizing counternarratives in engineering design

et al. 2019

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“…In contrast, more collaborative approaches have been found to help retain girls in male-dominated subjects, such as computer science, engineering, and physics (Weisul, 2017). There exists a large body of research that shows collaboration can be used to engage a more diverse population in engineering and to help individuals construct engineering identities (Busch-Vishniac & Jarosz, 2004;Cunningham & Lachapelle, 2014;Goodman et al, 2002;Menekse et al, 2017;Pattison et al, 2018). Teamwork provides students with opportunities to contribute in a variety of ways, thereby placing value on diversity rather than creating hierarchies with competition.…”

Section: Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our analysis is based on a situated perspective of identity (Gee, 2000), which considers how identities are context-dependent and negotiated with oneself and between oneself and others. In line with research on measures of situated science and engineering identity, in this study we defined engineering identity as consisting of two dimensions: thinking of oneself as an engineer and being thought of by others as an engineer (Calabrese Pattison et al, 2018;Tonso, 2006).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Collaborative Design for Narrowing the Gender Gap in Engineering: An Analysis of Engineering Identity Development in Elementary Students

McLean¹,

Nation²,

Spina³

et al. 2020

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

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Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative engineering design on the development of engineering identities in elementary-school students and compared the findings across gender. We focused on three tiers of collaboration embedded into the engineering design process: peer groups, role models, and shared goals. More specifically, the elementary students worked in small teams and partnered with undergraduate engineers to help design and build dancing robots that come together for a coordinated dance performance. We used ethnographic methods, including pre-and post-program student interviews, videorecorded program sessions, and documentation of student work, to investigate elementary students' engineering identities. Three themes emerged from our analysis. First, working with peers encouraged students who were initially uninterested in engineering, the majority of whom were girls, to join the program and helped them to engage in the activities. Second, partnering with engineer role models contributed to the elementary students' developing identities as engineers: The girls were most influenced by the personal bonds they formed, while the boys were most influenced by the technical skills they learned. Third, all girls and most boys preferred the idea of working toward a shared goal over competitive projects that, as described by the students, can cause bad feelings and hurt friendships. Our work supports and extends elementary engineering literature by considering the role of multiple tiers of collaboration in identity development in girls and boys. Our results suggest that engineering design programs that foster collaboration can help more students, especially more girls, engage in and identify with engineering, thereby contributing to the narrowing of the gender gap.

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“…They offer hands‐on experience, develop students' social and motor skills, and foster student motivation to learn (Itzek‐Greulich et al, ; Lavie Alon & Tal, ). Informal environments can play a key role in the development of scientific literacy, skills, dispositions, practices, and knowledge (Mujtaba, Lawrence, Oliver, & Reiss, ; Peleg & Baram‐Tsabari, ; Wünschmann, Wüst‐Ackermann, Randler, Vollmer, & Itzek‐Greulich, ), as well as science identity (Pattison, Gontan, Ramos‐Montañez, & Moreno, ; Williams et al, ).…”

Section: Background and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Goff, Mulvey, Irvin, and Hartstone‐Rose () found that young people who reported participation in informal programs prior to college also reported higher academic aspirations and greater interest and engagement with STEM (see also Dou, Hazari, Dabney, Sonnert, & Sadler, ). Supporting the development of science identities has the potential to afford equal access to science (Pattison et al, ; Williams et al, ).…”

Section: Background and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science identity trajectories throughout school visits to a science museum

Shaby

Vedder‐Weiss

2019

J Res Sci Teach

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Research has repeatedly demonstrated how informal learning environments afford science‐identity development by fostering a broader array of interactions and recognizing more varied participation modes and roles, as compared to the classroom. Thus, science teachers are encouraged to take students to field trips in informal environments, including science museums. However, the question of whether and how informal environments indeed support science identities also in a schooling context (i.e., in field trips) has not yet been explored. This case study addresses this question by analyzing identity trajectories of three students throughout six school visits to an Israeli science museum. We observed and recorded these students in the museum over the course of 3 years (fourth to sixth grade). We also visited their school and interviewed them after each visit. Drawing on a sociocultural interactional approach to identity, we analyzed 18 hr of video and audio recordings, tracking the participation of the three students across time and contexts, comparing between the students, points in time and settings, including structured (museum lab), semi‐structured (riddle‐solving activities in exhibition halls), and unstructured settings (free exploration). We employed linguistic ethnographic methods and microanalysis to examine the ways in which the students participated and their positioning by self and others. While we found differences between settings within the museum, overall, the findings show that the museum reproduced the school's interaction, positioning, and roles. The “(non)science person” in school was also the “(non)science person” in the museum, and thus, the museum visits did not appear to shift identity trajectories. These findings challenge the premise that informal environments support the development of science identities also in a schooling context and call for a more critical view of such fieldtrips in terms of their pedagogical and physical design, facilitation approach, and consideration of peers' social interaction.

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Identity negotiation within peer groups during an informal engineering education program: The central role of leadership‐oriented youth

Cited by 22 publications

References 85 publications

Critically engaging engineering in place by localizing counternarratives in engineering design

Critically engaging engineering in place by localizing counternarratives in engineering design

The Importance of Collaborative Design for Narrowing the Gender Gap in Engineering: An Analysis of Engineering Identity Development in Elementary Students

Science identity trajectories throughout school visits to a science museum

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