High school students’ role-playing for identity exploration: findings from virtual city planning
| Published date | 14 October 2019 |
| Pages | 640-662 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-03-2019-0026 |
| Date | 14 October 2019 |
| Author | Aroutis Foster,Mamta Shah,Amanda Barany,Hamideh Talafian |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
High school students’role-playing
for identity exploration: findings
from virtual city planning
Aroutis Foster
School of Education, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Mamta Shah
Elsevier Inc, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and
Amanda Barany and Hamideh Talafian
School of Education, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to reportfindings for the following question, “What is the nature of high school
students’identity explorationas a result of exploring the role-possible selvesof an environmental scientist
and urban planner in a play-based course?”Projective reflection (PR) is served as a theoretical and
methodologicalframework for facilitating learningas identity exploration in play-basedenvironments.
Design/methodology/approach –From 2016-2017, 54 high school freshmen students engaged in
virtual city planning, an iteratively refined course that provided systematic and personally relevant
opportunities for play, curricular,reflection and discussion activities in Philadelphia Land Science, a virtual
learning environment (VLE) and in an associated curriculum enacted in a science museum classroom.
Participants’identity exploration was anchored in targeted role-possible selves in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics: environmental science and urban planning through in-game and in-class
activities. This role-playingwas made intentional by scaffolding students’reflection on whatthey wanted to
be in the futurewhile thinking of their current selves and exploring novelrole-possible selves.
Findings –In-game logged data and in-class student data were examined using quantitative ethnography (QE)
techniques such as epistemic network analysis. Whole-group statisticalsignificance and an illustrative case study
revealed visual and interpretive patterns of change in students’identity exploration. The change was reflected in
their knowledge, interest and valuing, self-organization and self-control and self-perception and self-definition
(KIVSSSS) in relation to the roles explored from the start of the intervention (starting self), during (exploring role-
possible selves) and the end (newself). The paper concludes with directions to advance research on leveraging role-
playing as a mechanism for fostering identity exploration in play-based digital and non- digital environments.
Originality/value –This paper leveraged VLEssuch as games as forms of play-based environments that
can present players with opportunities for self-transformation (Foster, 2014) and enculturation (Gee 2003;
Shaffer, 2006) to support learner agency and participation in a constantly changing society (Thomas and
Brown 2011). The authorsintroduce and apply novel theoretical and methodological approachesto the design
and assessment of play-basedenvironments and address pertinent gaps in the emergent area of learning and
identityin VLEs
Keywords Informal learning, Epistemic network analysis, Identity exploration, PCaRD,
Projective reflection, Quantitative ethnography
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Virtual learning environments (VLEs) such as games are forms of play-based
environments that can present players with opportunities for self-transformation
ILS
120,9/10
640
Received31 March 2019
Revised9 August 2019
Accepted10 September 2019
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.120 No. 9/10, 2019
pp. 640-662
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-03-2019-0026
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-5348.htm
(Foster, 2014) and enculturation (Gee, 2003;Shaffer, 2006). Seminal conceptualizations
of identity change generally emerge from authorship that aligns with either
developmental (i)dentity approaches that conceptualize learning as a stable,
longitudinal process of growth (Erikson, 1959;Marcia, 1966) or interactionist (I)dentity
perspectives that conceptualize identity as a performative and constantly-fluctuating
construct mediated by context (Mead, 1934;Goffman, 1956). This paper adopts a
Vygotskian (1978) approach to identity that considers individual change as it is
mediated by engagement in a socioculturally situated environment (I/identity). We
define identity exploration as “the action of gathering information, questioning,
experimentation, and critical reflection on one’s identifications, beliefs, qualities, and
roles”(Kaplan and Flum, 2010,p.56).
Such opportunities for identity exploration are valuable for supporting career
preparation and skill developmentthat is particularly vital for emerging and under-accessed
careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) (Callahan et al.,2019).
In this paper, we leverage VLEs as contextsfor:
catalyzing learner interest in science and exploring career roles as future possible
selves; and
using these role-possible selves as anchors for cognitive, social and affective skill
development that can prepare learners to explore and reconstruct their identities
(Foster, 2014;Foster and Shah, 2016;Shah et al., 2017).
The theoretical promise of VLEs and advancements in game studies are well documented
(Clark et al., 2016); however, there is a scarcity of evidence-based practices to support
researchers in designing and leveraging the affordances of gaming technologies.
Additional work is needed to comprehend the theoretical and methodological processes
by which VLEs affect educational outcomes (Foster, 2012). With this emerging area of
research comes the need for research methods that complement theories to elucidate how
learners evolve in data-rich and dynamic play-based environments such as VLEs
(Wise and Shaffer, 2015).
To address these gaps, we introduce projective reflection (PR) (Foster, 2014)asa
theoretical and methodological approach to frame and facilitate learning as identity
exploration in digital and non-digital play-based environments. PR refers to the
processes by which a person engages in intentional exploration of role-possible selves
(i.e. roles connected to future selves a learner may want to be) in play-based
environments, while projecting forward and reflectingonwhotheyareinrelationto
specific domains and careers such as a STEM professional (Foster, 2014). Identity
exploration is the process of intentional and repeated examination of who a learner is
and who he/she wants to become (Kaplan and Flum, 2012), which can lead to identity
change in targeted directions over time (i.e. change toward a future in a STEM career)
(Foster, 2014).
In this study, PR structured the design and implementationof virtual city planning (VCP),
a play-based course that included identity exploration experiences mediated by a VLE
(Philadelphia Land Science [PLS]), and classroom experiences based on PLS. Identity
exploration processes are at their most valuable with they are role-specific (i.e. Markus and
Nurius, 1986;Oyserman, 2015), so this project was designed to encourage learner
exploration of role-specific possible selves in urban planning and environmental science,
which connect to students’socioculturally situated environments (i.e. drawing on relevant
landmarks, connecting to community issues). Quantitative ethnography (QE) techniques
(Shaffer, 2017) were applied to visualize and interpret changes in identity exploration
Role-playing
for identity
exploration
641
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