Science, Learning, Identity: Sociocultural and Cultural-Historical Perpectives (New Directions in Mathematics and Science Education) - Tapa dura

Over the recent years, identity has become one of the most central theoretical concept and topics of scholarship in a number of disciplines, including science education. In this volume, leading science educators articulate in carefully prepared case studies their theoretical perspective on science, learning, and identity. More importantly, the authors of the chapters that in the different parts of the book engage each other in a collaboratively written chapter concerning some of the central issues that have arisen from their individual studies; and in particular they engage each other over the similarities and differences between their approaches. This book, which features detailed case studies of identity as both resource and outcomes of learners in a variety of settings, will be of interest to anyone concerned with learning science in and out-of schools. The book also caters for readers who have wondered about how identity mediates science learning and, simultaneously, how engagement in science-related tasks and activities mediates the emergence and development of identities. The general tenor of all chapters is a cultural-historical and sociocultural framework that is brought to issues of identity, thereby inherently transcending the individual person and linking identity to cultural possibilities.

WOLFF-MICHAEL ROTH is Professor of Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He taught science, mathematics, and computer science before beginning his current career in phenomenologically and sociologically oriented research.

KENNETH TOBIN is Presidential Professor, Urban Education Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York. He has been recognized by the National Science Foundation as a "Distinguished Teaching scholar" and by the Association for the Education of Teachers of Science as "Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year."