From Half-Pipe to Full-fillment: Leveraging Interest-Driven Identities as a Strategy for Technology Learning

• In Event: 35.029 - Learning as Transformation: Examining How Youth Author New Learning Pathways/Ecologies in Science, Engineering, and Technology

Abstract

Our research project involves developing longitudinal case studies of interest-driven learning among high-school-aged youth who participate in programs offered by the Hive NYC Learning Network, a regional community of youth-serving institutions in New York City. For this presentation, we describe initial findings from two of our case studies. Case Study 1 comprises a summer program that exposes teen skateboarders from non-dominant, urban communities to game design and programming skills by engaging them in a project to develop technology-enhanced skateboarding games for a skate park. Case Study 2 focuses on one program participant who is developing video editing and graphic design skills in order to start her own skateboard brand. Through these cases, we illustrate how youth leveraged their interest-driven identities (as a skateboarder in one, graphic designer/filmmaker in the other) to participate legitimately in communities, and, in so doing, opened themselves up to opportunities for deepening their technological expertise.

We draw largely on positioning theory, which speaks to the process by which people identify with certain social categories (Harré & Van Lagenhove, 1991). This can occur either by the actions of another (interactive positioning) or by one’s own actions (reflexive positioning; Davies & Harré, 1990). Employing Yin’s (2003) approach to case study research, our data sources include interviews with program-affiliated youth and adults, program artifacts, fieldnotes and reflection notes spanning over a year. Data were inductively coded to surface themes pertinent to youth authoring of identities in practice, then deductively coded to surface reasons for that positioning/re-positioning.

From our data emerged a central theme concerning how youth positioned themselves in ways that would allow them to participate legitimately in specific communities. We highlight two examples:
• Leveraging a skateboarder identity to participate in a technology-related community. Because the objective of the program was to develop successful skateboard games for a skate park, youth were able to highlight their skateboarder identities and position themselves as content experts that could advise on appropriate skateboard tricks to reference in the game, how other skateboarders would react, etc. By being seen as experts and valued members of the “summer program community,” youth remained motivated to engage in other central practices of the program, i.e., the game design and coding activities.
• Leveraging a technology-related identity to participate in a skateboarder community. “Freelyn” is a recent high school graduate who identifies strongly as a skateboarder. For the past three years, she has positioned herself to high-status individuals in the skateboarder community as a graphic artist and video editor in order to remain legitimately involved in this community even though (and perhaps partly because) her actual skateboarding skills have largely diminished.

Overall, findings from this study shed light on how adolescents may leverage their interest-driven identities to accomplish meaningful goals such as being seen as an expert or feeling a sense of belonging within a community. Holland & Leander (2004) discuss positioning as an opportunity for individuals to change the reputation foisted upon them by others. This work offers an opportunity to make further contributions to that perspective.

Authors

• Dixie Ching, New York University

• Rafi Santo, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Tal Bar-Zemer, City Lore

• Jessica Forsyth, Harold Hunter Foundation

• Christopher Hoadley, New York University