STEM Identity Work in Hybrid Activity Spaces

• In Event: Consequential Arrangements for Becoming: Considering Identity Work in STEM Across Social, Institutional, and Practice Spaces

Abstract

Objectives
Researchers have documented how different kinds of activity spaces afford differential opportunities for identity development. Out-of-school practices, such as playing dominoes and basketball (Nasir, 2002; Nasir & Hand, 2008), often provide opportunities for youth to develop robust identities with respect to these practices, while formal mathematics classes often limit youth’s opportunities to develop positive mathematics identities (Boaler, 1999; Eisenhart & Allen, 2016; Martin, 2000; Solomon, 2007). In this presentation, we present a framework for hybrid activity spaces and discuss findings on how the framework can be used to design activities that support youth to develop positive mathematical identities.

Background
This work is part of a broader social design experiment (Gutiérrez & Jurow, 2016) in which we collaborated with youth from rural and American Indian communities to use community resources with mathematical modeling to address a local issue. In the first phase of the project, we conducted fieldwork in the youth’s communities to learn more about local ways of solving problems and to identify relevant contexts for inquiry. We identified five practices that were durable across communities: exercise self-reliance, show and receive care, use practical wisdom, find and use resources, and try something and adjust (authors, date-a)
We then developed a framework for hybrid activity spaces where youth are engaged in community practices and mathematical practices. The framework is a triangle with Relevance, Mathematical Practices, and Community-based practices at each vertex. Activities can be differentially located in the framework depending on the extent to which they incorporate each vertex (authors, date-b).



Theoretical Framework
We conceptualize identity in social and relational terms. In this conception, identities are neither fixed nor innate. Rather, identities are constructed moment-to-moment as individuals position themselves and are positioned by others while they engage in joint practice (Dreier, 2009; Harré, 2008). Thus, identity is jointly accomplished though talk, a process that we refer to as “identity work.”

Methods and data
We engaged in multiple activities with youth, including addressing their community issue and engaging in mathematical modeling modules at a summer camp. These activities were video recorded and transcribed. We coded each activity for its location in the hybrid activity space, and we analyzed the interactions for identity work. A primary focus of this analysis was on how youth discursively positioned themselves and got positioned with respect to both mathematics and their role in the world (Davies & Harré, 1990).

Results
We found that activities in different areas of the framework allowed for different kinds of identity work. Activities that were close to the relevance vertex supported youth to position themselves and be positioned as experts in the given context, but did not necessarily support mathematical identity work. Activities that were close to the mathematics vertex tended to support youth positioning as novices. Sustained activity in the center of the triangle helped to reframe the meaning of “doing mathematics” and supported positive identity work.

Significance
This work contributes to research on STEM work by showing how hybrid activity spaces can support youth to develop positive mathematical identities.

Authors

• Mary Alice Carlson, Montana State University
  Presenting Author

• Frederick Peck, University of Montana
  Presenting Author