Science education and youth's identity construction - two incompatible projects?

Schreiner, Camilla; Sjøberg, Svein

doi:10.1163/9789087901677_020

Cited by 99 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This object may be a generic object, such as the school subject of science, or it may be a specific scientific phenomenon or concept, such as the use of antibiotics or the mechanisms of cloning. This theory of interest development is also consistent with sociological theories regarding interest development as an integral part of identity formation (Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003;Schreiner & Sjøberg, 2007). In a more recent extension of this model, Krapp (2002) suggests that the specific content and context of application of this content is vital for further development and growth of interest (see also Krapp & Prenzel, 2011).…”

Section: The Measures Of Interest In Science In Pisa 2006supporting

confidence: 76%

Profiles of Students’ Interest in Science Issues around the World: Analysis of data from PISA 2006

Olsen

Lie

2011

International Journal of Science Education

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The Programme for International Student Assessment in 2006 included several measures of students' interest in science. These measures were constructed by combining information from several items where students are asked to respond to statements along Likert scale categories. Since there is evidence for Likert scales providing culturally biased country scores, we demonstrate in this article that the relative profiles of interest can be meaningfully analysed across countries. Hence, we have developed national relative profiles of interest in science constructed from the country-and item-specific residuals at the item level. Subsequently, these relative profiles of interest have been used as input in a cluster analysis providing identification of distinct groups of countries with similar item-by-item patterns of interest in science. The most notable feature of the analysis is an overall division between two larger groups of countries, roughly corresponding to European/Western countries in one group and non-European countries, with only a few exceptions, in the other group. A number of meaningful clusters of countries, partly defined by language and partly by localisation, are identified within each of the two main clusters. In order to develop a more detailed understanding of the characteristic features of the various clusters, descriptive information about the items is included in the analysis. The most notable finding is the strong relative preference for life and health issues among the non-European countries, contrasted with the distinct favouring of items relating to physical/technological systems in the European/Western countries.

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Section: The Measures Of Interest In Science In Pisa 2006supporting

confidence: 76%

Profiles of Students’ Interest in Science Issues around the World: Analysis of data from PISA 2006

Olsen

Lie

2011

International Journal of Science Education

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“…Our approach to exploring students' engagement with science is grounded in notions of identity—an understanding that sees the lack of interest in school science as a product of the mismatch between popular representations of science, the manner in which it is taught, and the aspirations, ideals, and developing identities of young adolescents. Indeed there is a large body of work that would indicate that students' sense of self‐identity is a major factor in how they respond to school subjects (Head, 1985; Schreiner & Sjøberg, 2007) and research has drawn attention to the ways in which identities (and inequalities) of gender, social class, and ethnicity can impact on students' engagement with science (e.g., Brickhouse & Potter, 2001; Calabrese Barton & Brickhouse, 2006; Carlone, 2004; Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Mickelson, 1990; Springate, Atkinson, Straw, Lamont, & Grayson, 2008). Our theoretical approach draws on feminist poststructuralist (e.g., Butler, 1990; Francis, 2008), critical sociological (e.g., Bourdieu, 1990) and postcolonial (e.g., Bhabha, 1990; Hall, 1992) theorizations of identities and inequalities of gender, social class, and ethnicity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Doing” science versus “being” a scientist: Examining 10/11‐year‐old schoolchildren's constructions of science through the lens of identity

et al. 2010

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ABSTRACT:The concern about students' engagement with school science and the numbers pursuing the further study of science is an international phenomenon and a matter of considerable concern among policy makers. Research has demonstrated that the majority of young children have positive attitudes to science at age 10 but that this interest then declines sharply and by age 14, their attitude and interest in the study of science has been largely formed. This paper reports on data collected as part of a funded 5-year longitudinal study that seeks to determine how students' interest in science and scientiÞc careers evolves. As an initial part of the study, six focus group discussions were undertaken with schoolchildren, age 10 -11, to explore their attitudes toward science and interest in science, the Þndings of which are presented here. The children's responses are analyzed through the lens of identity, drawing on a theoretical framework that views identity as an embodied and a performed construction that is both produced by individuals and shaped by their speciÞc structural locations. This work offers new insights into the manner in which students construct representations of science and scientists.

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“…Many researchers have highlighted the prevalence of disenchantment with school science among students in developed countries (Osborne, Simon, & Tytler, 2009; Schreiner, 2006; Schreiner & Sjøberg, 2007; Tytler, Osborne, Williams, Tytler, & Clark, 2008). Young people's increasing reluctance to participate in science in especially physical science and mathematics subjects has been most evident in highly developed and modernized regions such as Europe (European Round Table of Industrialists, 2009; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2008), the United States (Stine & Matthews, 2009), Australia (Lyons & Quinn, 2010), New Zealand (Hipkins & Bolstad, 2005a), Canada (Government of Canada, 2007), Japan (OECD, 2007b; Ogura, 2005), and Korea (Anderson, Chiu, & Yore, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science choices in Norwegian upper secondary school: What matters?

Bøe

2011

Science Education

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There is international concern about young people's participation in science. This study investigated the relevant importance of various issues in 1628 Norwegian upper secondary students' choices of postcompulsory subject combinations: natural science and mathematics (henceforth Science) or languages, social science and economics (henceforth HumSoc). Questionnaire items based on the Eccles et al. model of achievement‐related choices were grouped into six constructs by factor analysis: expectation of success, interest‐enjoyment value, self‐realization value, fit to personal beliefs value, utility value for university admission, and relative cost. Interest‐enjoyment and fit to personal beliefs were somewhat less important to Science students than to HumSoc students, especially to girls taking Science. Utility value for university admission was much more important to Science than to HumSoc students, and more important to Science girls than to Science boys. Costs in terms of time and effort were much more important to HumSoc than to Science students. The findings indicate that students choose Science both for identity reasons, such as interests, self‐realization and fit to personal beliefs, and for strategic utility reasons. Some of the students, especially the girls, appear to have placed more weight on utility than on their interests. Implications for participation in postcompulsory science are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96:1–20, 2012

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Science education and youth's identity construction - two incompatible projects?

Cited by 99 publications

References 8 publications

Profiles of Students’ Interest in Science Issues around the World: Analysis of data from PISA 2006

Profiles of Students’ Interest in Science Issues around the World: Analysis of data from PISA 2006

“Doing” science versus “being” a scientist: Examining 10/11‐year‐old schoolchildren's constructions of science through the lens of identity

Science choices in Norwegian upper secondary school: What matters?

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