Exploring Identity Dynamics in Socioscientific Issues-Based Science Education in Chinese Secondary Schools

• In Event: Personal / Emotional Relevance in Student Science Learning

Abstract

This paper explores how students negotiate multiple identities in a socioscientific issues (SSI)-based lesson on aluminum recycling in a high-stakes Chinese secondary school. Drawing on Gee’s Identity Theory and Holland’s Figured Worlds, the study examines how students navigate institutional expectations while engaging in ethical and political discourse. Data from classroom observations and student discussions reveal how role-play activities prompted unexpected tensions, including debates on capitalism, worker rights, and environmental justice. Students performed complex identity negotiations between their roles as “good students” and as socially engaged individuals. The study highlights the improvisational and situated nature of identity formation and calls attention to the potential of SSI pedagogy in restrictive educational environments.

Author

• Tiantian Wang, King's College London