Instructional Patterns of Identity Exploration in Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Classrooms

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Human Development (Table 17)

Abstract

Identity formation is an essential part of development that reaches a pivotal moment during early adolescence. While prior work has examined identity exploration in older populations and found relations to academic outcomes, this work still needs to be expanded into younger populations. In a study of upper elementary students, we use qualitative analyses to examine patterns of identity exploration in the classroom, and exploratory quantitative analyses examining the relation to engagement. We identified three teacher patterns: high guidance, responsive support, and autonomy supportive facilitation. However, our results indicated no significant differences in engagement between classrooms with these various patterns. Overall, this suggests that there is no superior pattern and teachers may have flexibility in how they approach promoting identity exploration.

Authors

• Kimiko Ching, The Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Adriana I. Martinez Calvit, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eric M. Anderman, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tzu-Jung Lin, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author