What Does It Mean To Be Good at Physics? Peer Recognition in a High School Physics Classroom

In the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for science classrooms where students develop a wide range of skills, though students still often hold to narrow views of what it means to be good at science. Science identity provides a lens to examine what students believe being good at science means. A widely used framework describes science identity through the dimensions of competence, performance, and recognition. Many studies have found that recognition is a key element of a science identity. In spite of the clear importance of recognition, there has been little effort to describe what it looks like, especially between peers. This study used video of students working in small groups in a high school physics classroom and interviews with several of the students to develop a framework for peer recognition. The types of recognition students gave each other were categorized as explicit recognition, typically given for an answer or contribution students saw as correct, and implicit recognition, typically given over an extended period for contributions including asking questions and sharing incorrect ideas. The interviews provided insights into how students connected recognition to their science identity. When discussing what it meant to be good at physics or discussing the ways their peers were good at physics, students demonstrated a broad view of competence and performance that encompassed contributions that received both explicit and implicit recognition. When they discussed their own competence and performance, students primarily discussed the kinds of contributions that elicited explicit recognition. In addition, students primarily discussed explicit recognition when describing recognition they received. This suggests that finding ways to expand the kinds of contributions students receive explicit recognition for may be one way to expand what it means to be a science person.