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Unpacking science for all through the lens of identities-in-practice: the stories of Amelia and Ginny

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Abstract

This manuscript reports on an ethnographic study of two Latina students who attended an urban middle school in a low-income community, and how they exhibit agency by purposefully authoring identities-in-practice that value nontraditional ways of knowing and resources. Drawing from both global feminism and sociocultural theory, we argue that by paying careful attention to how and why urban girls author identities-in-practice we can gain deep insight into the noncommodified forms of knowledge, relationships and activities that make up their engagement in science and that girls often employ to participate in science related communities in ways that are culturally and socially just and sustainable.

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Notes

  1. “Sweet-Water” is a pseudonym for the location where the school organized an overnight fieldtrip for students and their parents.

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Acknowledgment

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PGE 0429109.

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Correspondence to Edna Tan.

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Tan, E., Barton, A.C. Unpacking science for all through the lens of identities-in-practice: the stories of Amelia and Ginny. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 3, 43–71 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-007-9076-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-007-9076-7

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