- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2050497
- First Name Paul
- Last Name Skrade
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline STEM Education (general)
- Role Co-PI
- Presenters
Paul Skrade, Myah Brinker, and Marlene Franzen, Upper Iowa University
Need
Nurturing a robust science identity is an important factor in sustaining interest and participation in scientific pursuits, including science teaching. However, developing a science identity can be complex and multifaceted, requiring a deeper understanding of experiences that are conducive to its reinforcement (Vincent-Ruz & Schunn, 2018). For this poster presentation, Noyce scholars engaged in a journey mapping exercise, exploring their personal narratives of science education experiences. The focus centered on uncovering the underlying motivations driving their engagement in science teaching and learning. Understanding their own journey and how it contributed to the development of their science identity can help them become stronger role models for students in their classrooms (Mercier, 2023).
Research Questions
How have previous science learning experiences contributed to the cultivation of a science teaching identity among Noyce scholars? How can journey maps help understand Noyce scholars’ science identities?
Approach
The journey mapping experience involved documenting and analyzing the various experiences related to science that preservice teachers have encountered throughout their life (Mercier, 2024). This could include their initial motivations for becoming a teacher, their coursework, field experiences, interactions with mentors and peers, challenges they encounter, and their growth and development over time. The Noyce scholars first wrote extensively about their science experiences from their early education through their university experiences. They were provided with questions to consider including the following (Stellar, 2024): (1) What are some your past science experiences and how did they make you feel? (2) What interested you about science? (3) Were your feelings towards science always positive? (4) What key events, people, or things contributed to your science education? (5) What obstacles did you encounter in your science education (6) What were some positive experiences you had in science and what were some negative experiences? After the writing exercise, they mapped out their experiences focusing on their perception of what was most important in leading them towards science teaching. Understanding teachers’ experiences as they lived them and as they told them is important for constructing a comprehensive perspective of science education and the role teachers occupy within it. Journey mapping can be a powerful tool for exploring teachers’ lived experiences (Mercier, 2024) and help them better understand their science identities (Young, 2023).
Outcomes
The journey mapping experience allowed students to explore their science experiences and how this brought them to the role of preservice teacher and Noyce scholar (Mercier, 2024). This process allowed them to explore emotions that are related to science education and how they help build a science teacher identity (Young, 2023).
Broader Impacts
Developing a stronger science teacher identity can help Noyce scholars focus on the “why” of science teaching. This could lead them to be stronger role models and science teachers in the future. It also can help increase science teacher retention by building a stronger connection to the reasons they went into the teaching field.
