A Critical Assessment of Diverse Youths’ Learning and Identity Work in Science in Informal Environments

• In Event: Science Education, Capital, and Power

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper, I critically examine the current discourse that “informal environments can have a significant impact on science learning outcomes for individuals from non-dominant groups who are historically underrepresented in science” (Bell et al., 2009, p. 301). It leaves unquestioned at least two fundamental issues. First, it ignores a more critical examination of power issues that mark space/time dimensions of engagement with science (Nespor, 2004). The social construction of out-of-school settings as places to catch up on science not gotten elsewhere, as another means to get underrepresented youth into the science pipeline, or to ensure science literacy for all, is highly problematic. It blames diverse youth for not having certain knowledge and as lacking identities in science (Phipps, 2007). It misses out on an exploration and understanding of the learning ecologies that constitute the lives of diverse youth (Barron, 2006). It does not unpack diversity and the manner gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status interact and constitute science literacy development. A second issue is concerned with the local, and the need for more critical assessments of the manner participation makes accessible to youth the kind of capital needed to engage in to them meaningful science and take on identities in science within and beyond OST practices.
Methodology
I draw upon data collected in the context of a multi-sited ethnography entailing two sites: ScienceGirls, an afterschool science program for girls only, and ArtScience, a club in a community program reaching out to immigrant families. A video-ethnography was pursued for two years (2009-2010) of youths’ engagement with science in both settings, supplemented by individual and focus group interviews (-2011). In ScienceGirls, we focused on a science newsletter activity in which 10 youth (ranging in age from 11-14 yrs) participated regularly each year. In ArtScience, we followed two groups of ten youth each (10-13 yrs) over two years as they participated in science activities and the creation of digital science documentaries. Youth were diverse, with parents that immigrated from Morocco, Congo, Caribbean, Greater Antilles, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The stories we present in this paper are a bricolage of data collected over the two years (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004).
Results & Signficance
The writing of texts for the newsletter and making of a science documentary both offered rich yet contradictory insights into the kind of science each practice supported. Given such contradictory practices, insider identities in science were experienced locally only. Yet, what counted as science was not only locally defined, but also socially contested given the multiple ways of thinking about science that youth and adults brought with them into the practices. Youth’s moves and actual networks of practices, however, were tied closely to their social and cultural capital and history of immigration. I conclude with some suggestions in light of the challenge posed up front and on how youths’ navigations among practices may be supported and what kind of local practices and identity work in science may further facilitate youth moves in their quests towards science literacy.

Author

• Jrene Rahm, University of Montreal