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Science identity is an important factor underlying successful science learning and achievement in K-12 and postsecondary learners. Ecological perspectives have expanded our understanding of science identity development, yet the interactive role of the microsystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem has been understudied. The COVID-19 pandemic context provides a unique opportunity to examine the interlocking social and historical influences on science identity development among racially diverse adolescent youth. The present study, conducted during the height of the pandemic, examined how 38 American high school students across grades 9–12 (34% Hispanic, 23% Multiracial, 16% Black) reflected on their science identities and futures after watching digital storytelling videos of mentored science learning activities. Reflexive thematic analyses of focus group data revealed the salience of interpersonal relationships, the challenge in successfully pursuing social and emotional goals in the immediate present, and individual differences in students’ experiences and perceptions of time, which collectively impacted adolescent science identity formation. Findings underscore the importance of considering the learner’s ecology and the broader sociohistorical context when designing and implementing instructional practices for effectively shaping science identities and aspirations among diverse adolescent youth.

Debates over curricula can be understood as struggles over the power to define symbolic representations of the world. Although this tension is particularly visible in discourse around textbook adop...

With the increased growth of career opportunities in STEM fields, educators and policymakers have sought to better understand the nature and development of students’ motivation to pursue science academic and career pathways successfully. However, our understanding of motivational constructs such as self-efficacy has mostly been based on studies of predominantly White samples, neglecting the perspectives and experiences of students from historically marginalized groups underrepresented in STEM academic and career pathways. In the present study, we examined science motivation in six high school students of color who participated in a brief, near peer mentoring program with undergraduate mentors of color. Deductive and inductive coding of semi-structured interviews with mentees and mentors revealed that science self-efficacy not only has a salient future-oriented component, but also centers around the importance of forming and maintaining interpersonal connections with others through proxy agency and help-seeking behaviors. These data point to the utility of a sociocultural perspective in expanding our understanding of self-efficacy—and motivational processes more generally—in a way that is more inclusive of the experiences of racial and ethnic minority youth.

With the increased growth of career opportunities in STEM fields, educators and policymakers have sought to better understand the nature and development of students’ motivation to pursue science academic and career pathways successfully. However, our understanding of motivational constructs such as self-efficacy has mostly been based on studies of predominantly White samples, neglecting the perspectives and experiences of students from historically marginalized groups underrepresented in STEM academic and career pathways. In the present study, we examined science motivation in six high school students of color who participated in a brief, near peer mentoring program with undergraduate mentors of color. Deductive and inductive coding of semi-structured interviews with mentees and mentors revealed that science self-efficacy not only has a salient future-oriented component, but also centers around the importance of forming and maintaining interpersonal connections with others through proxy agency and help-seeking behaviors. These data point to the utility of a sociocultural perspective in expanding our understanding of self-efficacy—and motivational processes more generally—in a way that is more inclusive of the experiences of racial and ethnic minority youth.