Social Scaffolding in an Afterschool Science Apprenticeship Program

• In Event: Toward a Refined Understanding of Social and Material Scaffolds in STEM Education

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper we explore how scientist mentors support learning in an informal science program for middle school girls from groups underrepresented in science. Our study explores the social strategies mentors use to scaffold the development of science-linked identities for youth. How do mentors draw on their own experiences, as scientists and members of underrepresented groups, to position themselves and youth in relation to each other in a way that facilitates the development of STEM identity and expertise?

Theoretical framework
We utilize a sociocultural perspective (Wertsch, 1998) and draw on Pea’s (2004) description of social scaffolds as concerned with the dialectical ways in which identity and affiliation are at the center of the interactive relationship between learner and more expert other. We make use of two classifications of scaffolding: the goals of scaffolding (what is scaffolded) and the tools for scaffolding (how scaffolding takes place) (van de Pol, Volman, & Beishuizen, 2010) to analyze how expert mentors provide opportunities for scaffolded inquiry (Collins, Brown & Holm, 1991). We view learning as a process of becoming through transformation of participation in cultural communities of practice (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003; Nasir, Roseberry, Warren, & Lee, 2005; Rogoff, 1997).

Methods
17 middle school girls from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds participated in this afterschool science apprenticeship, which was rooted in the local community and within professional science. Youth apprentices collaborated with professional and university student scientist mentors in 16 afterschool sessions to learn about chemistry and water quality in order to develop and implement their own community-based action projects. We used ethnographic methods to examine participation in this informal science program as adults and youth contributed to an ongoing scientific endeavor. Data collected included: 50-60 hours of program observations (videotaped, with fieldnotes); youth, mentor, and classroom teacher interviews; student work and surveys.

Findings
The paper describes mentor goals and the tools they use to scaffold science-linked identity development for youth in the apprenticeship program. We found that mentors saw themselves taking on specific roles in a community of practice to facilitate youth negotiation of multiple identities and future possible selves in and out of science. Additionally, mentors sought to position youth as capable of doing scientific practices, and taking on identities as contributors to both science and their home communities. Mentors used a variety of tools or strategies to scaffold these aspects of identity development, including providing opportunities for youth to progressively take on more central roles in activity, encouraging a sense of belonging, promoting code switching, and relating to youth through their own experiences as women in science. These mentors are uniquely positioned to communicate the obstacles and successes they have faced to other young women who may face the same challenges in STEM.

Scholarly significance
Examining how youth develop science-linked identities as they interact with mentors in afterschool science environments is important for designing informal and formal science learning settings. This study provides a model for how expert mentors interpret and then act on their experiences in relation to youth.

Authors

• Shelley Stromholt, University of Washington

• Deana Scipio, University of Washington

• Andrew W. Shouse, University of Washington