Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs
A physics student's identity is predicated on a multitude of factors, such as research, classes, and activities outside the classroom. Many students choose to participate in informal physics teaching programs during college; however, these programs are an understudied portion of a physics student's experience. We hypothesize that university students' science identity is reshaped by interactions and experiences they have in these programs. We focus on a student group that does demonstrations at local K-12 schools and organizations. Pre- and post- interviews were collected with undergraduate participants in this group who went on an intensive week-long trip to rural areas in the state. Here, we extend our previous work using a Communities of Practice framework to analyze these interviews. We operationalize students' movement toward or away from central membership as well as look at the intersection of other physics, academic, and personal communities with the informal physics program community.
Physics Education Research Conference 2019
Part of the PER Conference series Provo, UT: July 24-25, 2019 Pages 500-505
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![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=15327">Rispler, C, B. Prefontaine, and K. Hinko. "Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2019, Provo, UT, July 24-25, 2019.</a>
![]() C. Rispler, B. Prefontaine, and K. Hinko, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2019, Provo, UT, 2019, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240).
![]() C. Rispler, B. Prefontaine, and K. Hinko, Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2019, Provo, UT, 2019, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240>.
![]() Rispler, C., Prefontaine, B., & Hinko, K. (2019, July 24-25). Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2019, Provo, UT. Retrieved May 2, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240
![]() Rispler, C, B. Prefontaine, and K. Hinko. "Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2019, Provo, UT, July 24-25, 2019. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240 (accessed 2 May 2025).
![]() Rispler, Caleb, Brean Prefontaine, and Kathleen Hinko. "Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs." Physics Education Research Conference 2019. Provo, UT: 2019. 500-505 of PER Conference. 2 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Caleb Rispler and Brean Prefontaine and Kathleen Hinko",
Title = {Understanding university students’ identity through engagement in informal physics programs},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2019},
Pages = {500-505},
Address = {Provo, UT},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {July 24-25},
Year = {2019}
}
![]() %A Caleb Rispler %A Brean Prefontaine %A Kathleen Hinko %T Understanding university students' identity through engagement in informal physics programs %S PER Conference %D July 24-25 2019 %P 500-505 %C Provo, UT %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2019 %O July 24-25 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Rispler, Caleb %A Prefontaine, Brean %A Hinko, Kathleen %D July 24-25 2019 %T Understanding university students' identity through engagement in informal physics programs %B Physics Education Research Conference 2019 %C Provo, UT %P 500-505 %S PER Conference %8 July 24-25 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15327&DocID=5240 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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