Identity in K-12 Computer Education Research: A Systematic Literature Review

The identity or self-concept of computer scientists has received increasing attention in the computing education research (CER) literature in recent years. Identity is often considered relevant both for initially choosing a path of study and subsequent retention. It is therefore also considered highly relevant for the questions of how to reduce drop-out rates and broadening participation of currently underrepresented groups in computing in higher education. However, as more and more students have eligible or mandatory computing education in their K-12 years, identity may become relevant in this area as well. In this article, we analyze the use and development of identity in the CER literature with a focus on K-12 education. To do so, we undertook a systematic literature review that identified appropriate publications through both a traditional database search (ACM DL, IEEE Xplore, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, DBLP, and Google Scholar) as well as an additional forward and backward snowballing process. In total, 31 papers from the years 1997-2020 were identified that address identity in the K-12 CS context. We summarize key research findings from these articles and develop a category system that demonstrate how and why identity is used in CER in the K-12 context. Our findings suggest that the use of identity in K-12 research needs to be thought of in fundamentally different ways than for higher education. Alongside, we provide evidence that the underlying theory is less fragmented than often claimed and highlight potentials arising from greater networking and discussion of identity research in (K-12) CER.