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Erschienen in: Cultural Studies of Science Education 3/2009

01.09.2009 | Original Paper

Negotiating identity and science teaching in a high-stakes testing environment: an elementary teacher’s perceptions

verfasst von: Bhaskar Upadhyay

Erschienen in: Cultural Studies of Science Education | Ausgabe 3/2009

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Abstract

This study draws upon a qualitative case study to investigate the impact of the high-stakes test environment on an elementary teacher’s identities and the influence of identity maintenance on science teaching. Drawing from social identity theory, I argue that we can gain deep insight into how and why urban elementary science teachers engage in defining and negotiating their identities in practice. In addition, we can further understand how and why science teachers of poor urban students engage in teaching decisions that accommodate school demands and students’ needs to succeed in high-stakes tests. This paper presents in-depth experiences of one elementary teacher as she negotiates her identities and teaching science in school settings that emphasize high-stakes testing. I found that a teacher’s identities generate tensions while teaching science when: (a) schools prioritize high-stakes tests as the benchmark of teacher success and student success; (b) activity-based and participatory science teaching is deemphasized; (c) science teacher of minority students identity is threatened or questioned; and (d) a teacher perceives a threat to one’s identities in the context of high stakes testing. Further, the results suggest that stronger links to identities generate more positive values in teachers, and greater possibilities for positive actions in science classrooms that support minority students’ success in science.

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Fußnoten
1
To document, examine, and explicate the interactional and contingent characters of practice, identity, and action, I video recorded science lessons that Daisy taught during 2003–2005 school years. My major interest was in the science classroom settings in which Daisy’s actions and interactions occurred because video recording provided me with the opportunities to analyze the emerging uniqueness of those ecologies and participants. In addition, video recording afforded me to observe individuals (Daisy and her students) in action such as participating in science manipulations, using science artifacts, discussing about science experiments and outcomes, and participating in the organizational frameworks. Similarly, by video recording Daisy’s science lessons I was also able to capture social and professional interactions that occurred during science lessons such as negotiations, identity formation, shared understanding, trajectories of teaching science through inquiry, and student engagement. Thus, video recordings provided me with the real time contextual resources with which to analyze ‘situated’ actions as they emerged within the local ecologies. Video ethnography therefore allows me to present a complex and overlapping multiple identities of Daisy in an elementary science classroom. Video ethnography also allows me to describe these multiple identities and map their development over time. In addition, video ethnography helps to record the interactions between teacher and context during the teacher’s career growth. To further understand Daisy’s actions and interactions during the science lessons several interviews were conducted based on the video recordings. All the interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. The interviews allowed me to clarify what was said, why it was said and in what ways, thus allowing me to begin to explore potential relationships between aspects of the actions and the interactions both at the personal and the professional levels.
I videotaped 10 science lessons spread over an 8-month period during 2003–2005. Each lesson was approximately 40 min in duration. During the videotaping, the camera followed Daisy to capture the interactions between the students and her, Daisy’s classroom decisions, and curricular choices. I interviewed Daisy on a total of eight occasions. All the interviews lasted between 60 and 90 min. Four of those interviews were based on the videotaped lessons. Daisy was interviewed based on the videotaped lessons with stimulated recall format interviews. I chose 3-3-min segments from teacher’s videos after reviewing, analyzing, and summarizing the footage. Daisy was not told about this choice of video segments. The second set of three interviews was based on Daisy’s personal life experiences, beliefs, goals, and on reflections about her practice as an elementary teacher. Semi-structured interview questions were used during both the interviews. I wrote reflective summaries of classroom observations. These observations included student teacher interactions, curriculum enactment processes, Daisy’s comments, and school and classroom social contexts. Daisy was observed at least three times per month for 8 months.
 
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Metadaten
Titel
Negotiating identity and science teaching in a high-stakes testing environment: an elementary teacher’s perceptions
verfasst von
Bhaskar Upadhyay
Publikationsdatum
01.09.2009
Verlag
Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in
Cultural Studies of Science Education / Ausgabe 3/2009
Print ISSN: 1871-1502
Elektronische ISSN: 1871-1510
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-008-9170-5

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