Body talk. Students' science learning and identity construction

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyse how teenagers (age 14-15) talk about body and health after a finished work with a socio-scientific issue on the same theme. How can their discussions about body, health and science education be understood in terms of a constantly ongoing identity construction, especially in terms of gender, social class, ethnicity and "studentship"? Our aim is to show how these categories intersect and produce meaning in students' talk about a topic socio-scientific issue. The paper is departing from a social theory on learning, e.g. learning and identity construction are interdependent on each other; meaning is constructed in relation to a community. Sadler (2009) has emphasized socio-scientific issues as a way to open up for communities of practice where students' identities can be expressed and they can use appropriated discourses. In this paper we intend to problematize Sadler's theories and show the complexity of students' identity construction during school work. Even if they can engage in a common issue, they are doing it in completely different ways. We will use an intersectional perspective to get deeper understanding of the relations between science learning and students identity construction. The paper also intends to discuss what subject positions that are available when students discuss a topical, political issue in the science classroom.The article is mainly built on data from focus group discussions about knowledge and values concerning body and health. Focus group 1 consisted of four girls from "Suburban school", a monoethnic school in a suburban, middle class area with high educational level. Focus group 2 consisted of four boys from the same school. Focus group 3 consisted of six girls from "Urban school", located in a multiethnic urban area with low socio-economic status, low educational level and high degree of unemployment. Focus group 4 consisted of four boys from the same school. We analyse the discussions from a discourse psychological perspective, e.g. how the students ...