Latinas in Science: "Students as Scientists" Illustrations as Identity Texts

• In Event: Literacy, Positioning, and Agency: Multiple Perspectives From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners and Families

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how young Latina students begin their identity formation in science during their elementary school years. I analyzed eleven fourth-grade girls’ illustrations and accompanying explanations of themselves as scientists to begin exploring how Latina elementary girls are developing their scientific identities.

This study takes the socio-constructivist perspective that learning involves participation in the practices of the community and the co-construction of identities (Lave & Wenger, 1991). In turn, identity is developed in and through shared practices (Boylan, 2005). By understanding classrooms as figured worlds, identities are then co-constructed as students see and position themselves as certain kinds of people in their participation in those figured worlds. As young Latinas go through school, their identities and positionalities shift as their participation within their communities of practice change.

These illustrations are part of a data set that was collected for a broader qualitative study of this particular fourth-grade bilingual classroom. I chose to analyze the girls’ illustrations in particular because, as opposed to the boys in the class, they illustrated themselves as “paying attention” and “doing science with their teacher.” Along with their illustrations, the girls wrote a description of what they were doing in the illustration. Through textual and discourse analysis I analyzed illustrations made by eleven fourth-grade Latina students as they were asked to illustrate themselves as scientists. In analyzing these illustrations, I focused on the Action, Representation, and Identification aspects of the texts (Fairclough, 2003). That is, what was represented in the illustrations, and what the written explanations (actions) represented for the girls’ identities.

The students’ illustrations ranged from sitting at a desk and paying attention to actively “doing science.” Findings suggest that the fourth-grade girls have appropriated conceptions of “doing school,” “doing science,” and what a “good student” does in a classroom community. Through their written explanations, the girls explained how they were “doing science,” and how they understood science participation as either a passive or active process. As such, these illustrations and their accompanying explanations emerged as identity texts (Cummins, Bismilla, Chow, Cohen, Giampapa, Leoni, Sandhu & Sastri, 2005) highlighting the various ways in which the girls saw themselves as scientists.

Few studies have focused on the identity development and positioning of elementary students in science, and fewer studies have focused on young Latinas. Although this is a small, exploratory study, these findings are significant as they provide a window into understanding how Latina elementary students are developing their science ideologies, and how they positioned themselves as scientists. If we are to engage more women and CLD students to study science, it is important to understand issues of identity and engagement in science.

Author

• Antonieta Avila, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee