An Exploration of Mentorship and Science Identity in a Short-Term Science Outreach Program

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: New Directions in Informal Learning Environments Research: Families, Communities, and Careers

Abstract

This study explores the role of mentorship, agency, and access to practices on seventh-grade students' science identity as they participate in a short-term science outreach program occurring in an urban middle school. Through the theoretical lens of social practice theory, this qualitative case study presents the differential experiences of two female students of color in the program. Through an exploration of mentor/student “dual engagement,” we find an impact on the girl’s spaces of science identity authoring as a result of access to scientific practices, power dynamics in the figured world of their group, and their mentor’s perceptions.

Author

• Alexandra Isla Race, University of California - Santa Cruz