Children in a Low-Income Community Negotiate Their "Science Person" Identities: A Science Club Experience

• In Event: Learning Environments for Fostering Agency and Learner Identity

Abstract

Children from low-income communities are often marginalized in science education and positioned as passive recipients of the science expertise of others. This qualitative study explored how an after-school science club, run by a non-profit organization, nurtured aspects of children’s science identities, influencing children’s positioning as ‘science persons’ in the school classroom. Findings indicate a mismatch between forms of science competency fostered in the club and the school science classroom. Despite this, the confidence that children gained as performers of science experiments, and the location of the club within the school, supported children’s recognition and positioning as ‘experts’ and active participants in school science. The study extends the body of research that seeks greater complementarity of formal and informal science approaches.

Authors

• Lydia E Carol-Ann Burke, University of Toronto

• Novella Ricotti, University of Toronto

• Megan Pham-Quan

• Natalie Marentic, University of Toronto