Danielsson, Anna;
King, Heather;
Godec, Spela;
Nyström, Anne-Sofie;
(2022)
The identity turn in science education research: a critical review of methodologies in a consolidating field.
Cultural Studies of Science Education
10.1007/s11422-022-10130-7.
(In press).
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Abstract
This manuscript reflects on the affordances and limitations of methodological approaches commonly adopted by science education researchers examining learner identities. Our aims are to unpack the relative strengths and weaknesses of such approaches and note their respective prevalence. In so doing, we identify and critique studies which we consider exemplify the different approaches and, in turn, note the direction of fruitful developments and the nature of key challenges. From our review of the field, we suggest that three discrete methodological approaches can be identified: macro-studies within a psychological tradition; macro-studies within a sociological tradition; and micro-studies within an interpretive tradition. Our review comprised a critical analysis of papers included in the Web of Science databases published between 1998 and 2018. A total of 198 papers examining aspects of learner identity relating to science were identified. Of these, the majority (146) were categorised as micro-studies within an interpretive tradition. We discuss the implications of methodological choices for the advancement of understanding and further note ambiguities in the field particularly in relation to the ways in which learner identity research is conceived. We also raise questions for the field relating to the ways in which findings may be scaled, and how the field might develop to allow stronger theoretical and conceptual coherence.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The identity turn in science education research: a critical review of methodologies in a consolidating field |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11422-022-10130-7 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-022-10130-7 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science identities, Learner identities, Review, Methodological approaches, Science education |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10155430 |
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