Facteurs influençant l’identité scientifique d’étudiants de niveau collégial engagés dans une recherche scientifique authentique
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.7357Keywords:
science identity, college students, authentic scientific research, qualitative researchAbstract
We present the results of a qualitative study of three CEGEP students who participated in authentic scientific research focused on the links between light pollution and cancer. As part of this project, the college students used scientific instruments, analyzed research data, interacted with university mentors, mentored high school students, and presented their findings at various scientific forums. We interviewed them three times during an academic year to track the development of their science identity according to four subcomponents (performance, competence, interest, and recognition) described by Chen and Wei’s (2022) model of science identity. The objective of this thematic analysis was to determine which elements of their participation in authentic scientific research would have the greatest influence on their science identity. Our results show that among the activities described above, working with mentors, using scientific instruments, reading scientific articles, and engaging in scientific communication all had a positive impact on the science identity of college students. Other activities that seemed less suited to their skill level, such as computer programming, had a rather demotivating effect. We conclude that authentic scientific activities carried out for educational purposes should respect the skill level of the participants and be more closely supervised than scientific activities carried out solely for the purpose of producing new knowledge. However, immersing students in a research context that is as authentic as possible has a positive effect on the development of their science identity and their understanding of what it means to be a “scientific person.”
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