Patterns of Identity Exploration Among High School Students in a STEM Course Augmented by a Virtual Learning Environment

Abstract

This paper illustrates the findings from the three iterations of a virtual learning environment STEM course Virtual City Planning. VCP leveraged a virtual learning environment and supported in-class curricula to facilitate students learning as identity exploration by taking roles of environmental scientists. Course design was informed by Projective Reflection (PR), a theoretical and methodological framework that conceptualizes learning as identity change in digital and non-digital environments. Numeric and text data from the three sessions were collected from 54 students and analyzed using Quantitative Ethnography (QE) techniques to identify patterns of identity exploration enacted over time. Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) was used as a QE technique to visualize the relationships between cognitive and affective PR constructs in each of the three student groups over time. Findings suggested that regardless of design changes in AVLEs, there were similarities and differences in pathways of identity exploration considering the duration of the courses.