The role of identity in the learning process

Knowing and learning are inherently social, involving individuals, communities, tools, and identities. Identity is a central component of what transpires in, and results from, classroom instruction. In this presentation, I will discuss cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on learning in efforts of demonstrating how identity is central to learning and is always in play regardless of the teachers’ or students’ attention to it. As we seek to promote physics learning in the classroom, we set up rules for inclusion and what counts as success. Different approaches will lead to different outcomes for who succeeds and who struggles. I will provide results from research that illustrate different ways in which identities are at play in inhibiting and facilitating learning both for students who have historically been successful in science and for those who have not.