Abstract
This paper reports findings from session 3 of the play-based course Virtual City Planning, which supported the exploration of environmental science identities. The Projective Reflection theoretical framework structured course design and implementation as well as assessment of student data for 18 middle schoolers in a local science museum. Epistemic Network Analysis was used to visualize different processes of identity exploration enacted each week as supported by curricular activities, supported by in-depth qualitative examinations of student reflections. Results illustrated connections between the design of each week’s activities and the facets of identity on which students focused, highlighting the potential of such intentionally designed environments for supporting identity exploration and the potential future acquisition of science careers. Implications for curricular design and identity assessment are discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kaplan, A., Sinai, M., Flum, H.: Design-based interventions for promoting students’ identity exploration within the school curriculum. In: Motivationalnterventions, pp. 243–291. Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2014)
Stets, J.E., Brenner, P.S., Burke, P.J., Serpe, R.T.: The science identity and entering a science occupation. Soc. Sci. Res. 64, 1–4 (2017)
Callahan, J., Ito, M., Campbell R., Wortman, S., Wortman, A.: Influences on occupational identity in adolescence: a review of research and programs. In: Connected Learning Alliance Proceedings, Irvine, CA (2019)
Vincent-Ruz, P., Schunn, C.D.: The nature of science identity and its role as the driver of student choices. Int. J. STEM Educ. 5(1), 1–12 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0140-5
Johnson, L., Becker, S.A., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., Hall, C.: NMC horizon report: 2016 higher education edition, pp. 1–50. The New Media Consortium (2016)
Traphagen, K., Traill, S.: How cross-sector collaborations are advancing STEM learning. Noyce Foundation, Los Altos, CA (2014)
diSessa, A.A.: How should students learn? J. Comput. Documentation 23(2), 14–18 (1999)
Schreiner, C., Sjøberg, S.: Science education and youth’s identity construction-two incompatible projects? In: Corrigan, D., Dillon, J., Gunstone, R. (eds.) The Re-emergence of Values in the Science Curriculum, pp. 231–247. SensePublishers, Rotterdam (2007)
Aschbacher, P.R., Li, E., Roth, E.J.: Is science me? High school students’ identities, participation and aspirations in science, engineering, and medicine. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 47(5), 564–582 (2010)
Gaydos, M.J., Squire, K.D.: Role playing games for scientific citizenship. Cult. Sci. Edu. 7(4), 821–844 (2012)
Reilly, J.M., McGivney, E., Dede, C., Grotzer, T.: Assessing science identity exploration in immersive virtual environments: a mixed methods approach. J. Exp. Edu. 1–22 (2020)
Defelice, A., Pieroni, P., Adams, J.D., Branco, B.: Engaging underrepresented high school students in an urban environmental and geoscience place-based curriculum. J. Geosci. Educ. 62(1), 49–60 (2014)
Foster, A.: CAREER: projective reflection: learning as identity exploration within games for science. National Science Foundation, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA (2014)
Foster, A., Shah, M., Barany, A.: Facilitating learning as identity change through game-based learning. In: Baek, Y. (ed.) Game-Based Learning: Theory, Strategies, and Performance Outcomes. Nova Publishers, New York (2017)
Kereluik, K., Mishra, P., Fahnoe, C., Terry, L.: What knowledge is of most worth: Teacher knowledge for 21st century learning. J. Digital Learn. Teach. Educ. 29(4), 127–140 (2013)
Wigfield, A., Eccles, J.S.: Expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation. Contemp. Educ. Psychol. 25(1), 68–81 (2000)
Vygotsky, L.S.: Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1978)
Kaplan, A., Flum, H.: Achievement goal orientations and identity formation styles. Educ. Res. Rev. 5(1), 50–67 (2010)
Foster, A., Shah, M.: The play curricular activity reflection and discussion model for game-based learning. J. Res. Technol. Educ. 47(2), 71–88 (2015)
Foster, A., Shah, M.: Knew me and new me: facilitating student identity exploration and learning through game integration. Int. J. Gaming Comput.-Mediated Simul. 8(3), 39–58 (2016)
Cobb, P., Confrey, J., DiSessa, A., Lehrer, R., Schauble, L.: Design experiments in educational research. Educ. Res. 32(1), 9–13 (2003)
Barany, A., Foster, A., Shah, M.: Design-based research iterations of a virtual learning environment for identity exploration. In: Economou, D., Klippel, A., Dodds, H., Peña-Rios, A., Lee, M. J.W., Beck, D., Richter, J. (eds.) Immersive Learning Research Network. Proceedings of 6th International Conference. iLRN 2020 Online (2020)
Krippendorff, K.: Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (2004)
Shaffer, D.W., Collier, W., Ruis, A.R.: A tutorial on epistemic network analysis: analyzing the structure of connections in cognitive, social, and interaction data. J. Learn. Anal. 3(3), 9–45 (2016)
Marquart, C.L., Hinojosa, C., Swiecki, Z., Eagan, B., Shaffer, D.W.: Epistemic Network Analysis (Version 1.7.0) [Software] (2018)
Siebert-Evenstone, A.L., Irgens, G.A., Collier, W., Swiecki, Z., Ruis, A.R., Shaffer, D.W.: In search of conversational grain size: modelling semantic structure using moving stanza windows. J. Learn. Analytics 4(3), 123–139 (2017)
Arastoopour, G., Swiecki, Z., Chesler, N.C., Shaffer, D.W.: Epistemic network analysis as a tool for engineering design assessment. Presented at the American Society for Engineering Education, Seattle, WA (2015)
Stake, R.E.: The Art of Case Study Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (2020)
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the National Science Foundation (DRL-1350707). The views expressed are those of the authors. Thank you to the Epistemic Analytics Group for access to Land Science and existing student data (DRL-1661036, DRL-1713110).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Barany, A., Shah, M., Foster, A. (2021). Connecting Curricular Design and Student Identity Change: An Epistemic Network Analysis. In: Ruis, A.R., Lee, S.B. (eds) Advances in Quantitative Ethnography. ICQE 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1312. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67788-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67788-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-67787-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-67788-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)