| Learning and succeeding in school is a process that involves the whole person and is situated within the social context of the school and classroom. As science educators, this means exploring how and why individuals come to see themselves as science students. To examine this process, I have used a framework of role identity theory, which takes the perspective that in all situations there are roles that carry with them behavioural and attitudinal expectations. Individuals develop role identities when they are able to match their self-perceptions with the meanings of the role. This study explores the meaning of the science student role and its impact on student identification in science using a three-phase, mixed-methods design.; In Phase 1, an exploratory qualitative phase, student responses ( n = 95) were collected through open-ended questionnaires and follow-up interviews and used to create a framework for understanding the role and the expectations associated with it. Phase 2 used this framework to create a questionnaire asking students (n = 129) to compare the expectations in science to those in other classes. Phase 3 took the role components from Phase 2 and asked students (n = 292) to rate themselves and ideal science students with respect to these expectations. Regression was used to understand how students' comparisons of themselves to the role related to their definitions of themselves as science students and to their future plans in science.; The results suggest a clearly defined science student role that is dominated by traditional understandings of scientific attitudes. The Phase 2 results suggest that the expectations can be represented by four subscales: intelligence, scientific mindedness, scientific skill, and appropriate behaviour. The results of Phase 3 demonstrate that student ratings of themselves as intelligent and scientifically minded were strong predictors of their self-reported identification with science, accounting for almost half of the variance in student outcomes. The results highlight the enduring power of the traditional meanings associated with science and highlight the importance of explicitly challenging these perceptions in the classroom. |
