Other spaces for young women's identity work in physics: Resources accessed through university-adjacent informal physics learning contexts in Sweden
Journal article, 2022

For young women, inbound identity trajectories into physics are generally regarded as exceptional. In this study, we investigated the experiences that young women have which may support their sustained interest and achievement in physics, and their ongoing inbound trajectories into post-secondary physics education. To understand these experiences, we look to the role of informal physics learning (IPL) environments as spaces which can offer resources that support women's trajectories into physics. In this paper, we highlight the important role of what we call "university-adjacent" IPL experiences-internships, summer schools, and associations that connect secondary students with the research lives of physicists. Focusing on case studies of six women enrolled in post-secondary physics programs across Sweden, we identify the various forms of resources made available through IPL environments, and how these create possibilities for young women to engage in forms of identity work that contribute to the construction of new possible selves in physics. Findings suggest that young women can access important relational and ideational resources through university-adjacent IPL programs. Relational resources included (a) supportive social networks, (b) enduring relationships, and (c) relatability. Importantly, our research finds that IPL opportunities that emphasize relationship building can create immersive experiences which go beyond representation and rather emphasize opportunities to develop practice-linked identities. Ideational resources emerged as (a) sources of information which possibilized physics for participants, and (b) types of information that provided possibilities to learn about the life of a physicist. Finally, while we claim that IPL experiences provide important possibilities for young women to immerse themselves in the practices of physics, we also discuss that these kinds of experiences remain inaccessible to most students, and thus reproduce a certain elitism in the field.

Author

Allison J. Gonsalves

McGill University

Anders Johansson

Chalmers, Communication and Learning in Science, Engineering Education Research - EER (Chalmers)

Anne-Sofie Nystroem

Uppsala University

Anna T. Danielsson

Stockholm University

Physical Review Physics Education Research

2469-9896 (eISSN)

Vol. 18 2 020118

The unlikely scientists: Exploring what has enabled students from under-represented groups to continue to higher education science studies

Swedish Research Council (VR) (2018-04985), 2022-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.

Swedish Research Council (VR) (SU-130-0223-22), 2023-01-01 -- 2023-12-31.

Swedish Research Council (VR) (2018-04985), 2021-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Subject Categories

Didactics

Learning

Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified

Learning and teaching

Pedagogical work

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.020118

More information

Latest update

10/27/2023