The exceptional physics girls – grown up

• This paper focus on the identity trajectories of eleven female students enrolled in higher education physics, with a particular focus on how they have acquired and mobilized resources during their trajectories. We are also interested in what has made higher education physics possible for students who enrol in such educations despite limited opportunities to accumulate valued forms of science capital. The study draws on interviews with 20 (11 women/9 men) first- and second-year university physics students. The interviews are inspired by life history interviews and structured around the construction of a ‘time line’. In the preliminary analysis we have we have discerned two different trajectories into higher education physics; ’The high achiever trajectory’ (characterized by general high achievement in school and ’The natural physicist trajectory’ (characterized by interest in and identification with a particular area of physics or a particular purpose with the physics education, rather than continuous academic high achievement). Across both trajectories the interviewed women can be understood as ‘exceptional’ in various ways. In particular the students’ accumulation of science related social capital stands out and it is noticeable how it extends far beyond the family. The accumulation of science related social capital is connected to the furthering of high-level scientific literacy and a deepened knowledge of how the science community works, showing how different aspects of science capital are inter-related and can re-inforce one another

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

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