(Non)participation in the science classroom
– A Longitudinal Study of Students' Participation and Identity-work in the Transition Process from primary to secondary school
Doctoral candidate
Abstract
This thesis is based on four articles, which aim to investigate students' participation opportunities in science education. The thesis was carried out at the time where students go from the combined science subject, nature/technology, to three science subjects, biology, geography and physics/chemistry, a transition where, both nationally and internationally, there is a decline in students' interest and a change in their attitudes towards sciences. This thesis has focused on understanding what creates opportunities for participation and what prevents participation, and what significance this may have for students' identity work in science. The thesis’ results are based on a longitudinal study that mainly took place in two schools, where I followed two classes throughout their year in sixth grade and the transition to seventh grade.
The first of the articles examines the possibilities of combining qualitative research with creative, visual and performative approaches to produce empirical material. The article is based on a systematic review that showed that only a few studies within science educational research used these creative methods. The article highlights the potential benefits of using creative approaches within educational research in STEM, but also looks at the limitations and challenges that may be present in using these creative approaches.
The second of the articles is based on ethnographic fieldwork and draws on empirical material from the period when the two school classes were in the sixth grade. From the observations it stood out that the student's participation was low; this included students being passive, quiet, and very little engaged in science teaching. The article examines what contributes to this low participation. The analysis shows that non-participation is produced through positions of exposure, being overlooked or being disciplined. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that these positions of non-participation are often difficult to negotiate, tend to remain stable over time and relate to social markers such as gender, race/ethnicity and social background.
The third article examines the transition from sixth to seventh grade and is based on four cases with four students and their experiences with science teaching and their ways of participating. Here we see how traditional classroom teaching excludes some students from participating, while group work creates some more active positions, but does not necessarily support the student in working with science-related competencies. We also see how performing as a good science student is about being able to say the right words and give the right answers and how interest in science-related content is not contextualized, as no connection is created between the student and the content of the subject. In the article, we show how, in the transition, both continuity and changes occur in the students' experience of science teaching.
The last article analyzes the experiences of science teachers in seventh grade on the basis of interviews. We have investigated how the teachers act in relation to some structural and disciplinary factors and are subjugated to cultural notions that affect their relationships with the students.
We can e.g. see how structures prevent science teachers from being active in creating different positions for students to occupy, how the teachers’ ideas about students being involved in science-related content outside of school shaped some opportunities to be positively recognized in science education, how the risk of disciplining students into positions where they are not recognized as competent enough led teachers to organize a controlled science education, and how all of this together helps to shape positions where teachers are less responsible for creating opportunities for their students in science. The results point to a structure that seems stiff and does not support students in a meaningful relationship with science.
Download the thesis: (Non)participation in the science classroom – A Longitudinal Study of Students' Participation and Identity-work in the Transition Process from primary to secondary school
Assessment committee
Professor Lene Møller Madsen, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
Professor Christina Siry, University of Luxembourg
Professor Christina Ottander, Umeå University
Chair of defense
Associate Professor Jan Sølberg (chair), Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
Supervisor
Supervisor: Professor Henriette Tolstrup Holmegaard, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Bjørn Friis Johannsen, University College Copenhagen
Mentor: Professor Lars Ulriksen, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen