Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2022

Publication Title

School Science and Mathematics

Volume

122

Issue

6

First Page

286

Last Page

297

DOI

10.1111/ssm.12544

ISSN

1949-8594

Keywords

agency, figured worlds, identity work, positioning, successful girls in science

Abstract

This study presents the recollections of 12 successful women in science duringtheir school years before postsecondary education. The participants shareddetailed descriptions of their science experiences through three semi-structured interviews. An identity works conceptual framework consisting offigured worlds, positioning, and agency constructs to portray the complexdynamics of their experiences was used to analyze the data. The following fourthemes emerged from the data analysis: participants had an early interest inmathematics and science; they were“stubbornly”persistent in science-figuredworlds; they engaged in science-figured worlds beyond school; and they posi-tioned themselves as science leaders. These findings add to the evolution of sci-ence identity development theoretical models because they are from anondeficit perspective. Participants engaged in identity work that advancedtheir science identities despite the gender biases in science-figured worlds.From a practical stance, girls and women could employ the agentic and posi-tive positioning identity work that the findings show to develop their scienceidentity in educational contexts. Science educators and researchers are encour-aged to structure figured worlds where girls feel empowered to enact identitywork to build strong science identities.

Comments

Originally published at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ssm.12544

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialLicense, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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