Trevor as a Case of Negotiating Science Identity

The E1 I-RISE crew has poked fun at Kara and me for our mild obsession with Trevor.  What fascinates me about Trevor is that, throughout E1, he stably positioned himself as a physics expert.  He rarely expressed interest in the thoughts of his peers or asks for help; he regularly asserted himself as an authority, explaining things to his peers or to the class; and he regularly spent breaks (or class time) talking one-on-one with Lane or Adam.  It would be fascinating to connect Trevor episodes to the literature on identity as a rich, extended case study.

I spent yesterday and today pulling a few episodes to illustrate some of Trevor's antics.  I'm not going to put these in order; instead, I'm going to organize them thematically.

These first three episodes illustrate Trevor explaining something to his peers or to the class.  I think this deserves a much more careful analysis, but, briefly, I see Trevor positioning himself as an expert by:

• Using technical (sometimes quantitative) language (e.g., compression, tension) and referring to well-known figures in the scientific community (e.g., Richard Feynman)
• Asserting his role as teacher-expert by moving to the center of the room when his talking, proposing a 'fun' experiment his peers can do at home, offering his solution without bidding to Cynthia, asking leading questions to his tablemates, etc.

I'd love to know if you see other bids that Trevor makes to be recognized as an expert in the videos below.

Trevor explaining to the class

Lane: What do folks think is happening at the micro level with the meter stick?
Trevor: I know from engineering with bending, you have compression on the, the bent side, and you have the tension on the other side, so, so, you know, if you think about the molecules...
(Lane hands Trevor the meter stick, and Trevor rolls into middle of room.)
Trevor: ...on the bent side here, they have to be closer together (pause).  Because you're reducing the distance between them.  And the ones on this side have to be farther apart.  So you're sort of stretching both.  You're compressing this, and you're expanding this and both kind of want to go back, but I don't know why they want to go back. [Shrugs shoulders]
Cynthia (?): I think it's that they have been pushed opposite and so they have the potential to actually move.
Sara (?): [...] shared electrons, so they're, I mean, the meter stick is all made of wood so it's mostly carbon, so they've shared so many electrons with things around them that if you pull them apart from each other on the far side of the meter stick, they should want to go back to where their electrons are.
Trevor: Cause they're like magnetic, radio (wiggles fingers), you know, yeah.
In the background: Yeah.
Rob: The inter-molecular attractions.
Trevor: Attractions.
Rob: Too much electron sharing then you'll have combustion.  So we're not going to go there, but the inter-molecular attraction between the complex carbon molecules, organic molecules.
Trevor: So then why with clay, I don't know.
Sara (?): Because clay is not made up of carbon, so it's bonded differently.  So it's got less bonds [...]?
Margaret: Yeah, it's just [PZs?].
Rob: Less forces.
Trevor: Forces.
Sara (?): So it's got less inter-molecular attraction.  So.
Trevor: I don't know.
[Teachers talking in the background.]
Rob: Or it could have more.
Sara (?): It's got different.
Trevor: You know, we made bridges out of spaghetti, and spaghetti's [...] tension when it's not cooked, but under compression, it (snaps) like that.  And so when you try and bend it, you try and bend a piece of uncooked spaghetti, it snaps. (Lane takes meter stick back.) But if you pull equally on the ends, you, it'll hold up lots and lots of weight.
(Sara says something I can't hear.
Trevor rolls back to place.)
Trevor: [...] Property, it holds up under tension but not compression, so if you try and bend it, by compression, it snaps, right?
Lane: And that suggests to me is the difference, the molecular difference between something that wants to spring back and something that doesn't want to spring back, it must be pretty complex.  Because if cooking spaghetti changes it from, you know, from wanting to spring back to not wanting to spring back, then that tells me that I would at least have to understand what cooking spaghetti, what the molecular, you know, of cooking spaghetti is.
(Someone says something in background that I can't hear.)
Lane: Well, that's one way to do it, right.
Trevor: And I'll just throw out for, a fun experiment for you guys to make a mess in your kitchens.  When you break a piece of spaghetti, it almost always breaks into three pieces, never two.  Richard Feynman used to sit around and just break spaghetti with his frinds and like talk about why that is.  And it's very complicated to understand why that happened, but standard spaghetti, you know, just start snapping, always breaks into three.

Trevor explaining to Cynthia

Trevor: See, this is what I was trying to do.
Barbara: Call it 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C.
Trevor: That's what I was trying to do last [...].  Last time I was trying to put numbers on it.  Allright. (Barbara and Maggie are talking in the background.)
Cynthia: Because assigning numerical value becomes more confusing.
Trevor: It just helps me.
Cynthia: I, I agree.
Trevor: Well, like, so, like, if there is 1 J of kinetic energy and 10 J of magnetic energy on this ball, okay?
Cynthia: Right.
Trevor: Well, this one is going to have less magnetic energy cause it's almost to zero.  I'm gonna call this one zero.
Cynthia: Right.
Trevor: But it's gonna have almost the same amount because it really loses the most when it gets in here, right?
Cynthia: Mmhm.
Trevor: This is where the magnet really affects it.  So I said 9 J.  So this is the situation at the beginning.
Cynthia: Mmhm.
Trevor: So using that as a model, both, since this is touching these at zero, both of these are touching, these are both zero, right?
Cynthia: And then.
Trevor: And then this is out here at the 10 J mark.  Well then how many J do I have left?  I have 19, 20 total J here.
Cynthia: Right.
Trevor: And I only have 10 here.  So that must mean that this must have 10 J worth of kinetic energy.  Which is 10 times more kinetic energy than I had before.  So that's why it goes faster.
Cynthia: Right.
Trevor: In my head.
Cynthia: Yeah.  I mean, that does make sense.
Trevor: I think it makes sense to throw numbers in there sometimes.
Cynthia: Well, unless you throw numbers it's kind of this magical thing that's happening that you can't evaluate.
Trevor: And it's so hard to track which is increasing and by how much and all that stuff without numbers.
Cynthia: Right, and I think the key here is that zero value, and then you have to account for what was here to begin with and...
Trevor: Zero makes it a lot easier.
Cynthia: Yeah.
Trevor: But, I mean, if I added to all my magnetic energies.
Cynthia: Mmhm.
Trevor: If I added fifteen to all of them, it's not gonna change anything.
Cynthia: Right, it's not gonna change as long as it, you've added...
Trevor: ...to all of them.
Cynthia: ...it to all of them, right.

Trevor asking leading questions to his group

Barbara: Okay, we can talk about [h].
Maggie: Okay.
Barbara: I said it speeds up.
Trevor: Wait, hold on, did you say g, too?  Can we go back to g?
Maggie: Sure.  Okay, (reading) so based on your answers to e and f, would you say that the magnets and balls have more magnetic energy when they are tightly bonded or weakly bonded?
Barbara: I said it depends on they're talk-, this is the question I asked Adam. 
Maggie: Mmhm.
Barbara: If it's talking about this close from the magnet.
Trevor: That's, so, well distance from the magnet is, it determines both magnetic energy and how tightly bonded they are.  Would you agree with that.
Several: Mmhm.
Trevor: So (plays with experimental set-up).
Maggie: What if the mag-.
Trevor: Which ball is more tightly bonded?
Barbara: These two.
Maggie: [...]
Cynthia: The two that.
Trevor: Out of the two I'm pointing to.
Barbara: This one.
Trevor: This one.
Maggie: Yeah.
Trevor: Which one has more magnetic energy?
Barbara: That one.
Cynthia: This one.
Trevor: Okay, so the less tightly bonded one...
Cynthia: The more.
Trevor: The more, the more, the less tightly bonded is, the more magnetic energy it has.
Barbara: Thank you.
Trevor: Now that's sort of counter-intuitive, which is why they're asking the question.
Maggie: Okay, that was the problem.
Barbara: Yeah, that's not what I said.
Trevor: But you knew it. 
Barbara: Yeah.
Trevor: When I asked it that way, you had the answer!
Barbara: Yeah, but it's asking it that way.  That's what your teachers are doing, maybe in Baltimore.
Maggie: So even though it sounds counter, even though it sounds counter-intuitive, it makes sense.  Cause that was the problem I had, is I said, well, the further they are, the weaker they're bonded, and then the further they are, the more magnetic potential energy they have.
Trevor: I like [the way that sounds?].
Maggie: I teach logic, what do you want?
Trevor: QED!
Maggie: Therefore, but it didn't make sense, the more magnetic potential energy,...
Trevor: The weaker the bonds.
Maggie: The weaker the bonds, and that.
Trevor: Cause they have more POtential to release that magnetic energy.
Barbara: I wish they would stick in potential because it makes more sense when potential is in there.
Maggie: It still doesn't make sense, but that's okay.
Trevor: That still doesn't make sense?
Maggie: I don't like it any [...].  Logically, it foll-.  The logic is sound.  [What actually happens I'm not sure].  Like this last statement sounds wrong.
Trevor: What it, the more, the more, because the closer you are to something.
Maggie: Wait, hang on, hang on.  Let's change it to.
Cynthia: (Talking to herself, repeating Trevor's words:) The closer.
Maggie: I change the 'm' to 'g'.  That makes sense, the more gravitational potential energy...
Trevor: The weaker the gravity.
Maggie: Yeah, that actually makes sense.
Trevor: Between the two objects, right?  It's further away.
Maggie: That means it's higher. Okay.
Trevor: It has more potential to fall.
Maggie: It's just that magnets are a little unfamiliar to me.

Even Trevor's facial expressions when talking to his peers suggest to me that he is positioning himself as the authority:

(Play without sound)

This final episode (below) is so rich.  It shows Trevor's group members taking up his bid to be recognized as an authority and recognizing him as an expert.  This episode happens between the "Trevor explains to Cynthia" and "Trevor asks his group leading questions" clips above:

Barbara: I think I got it.  Now I'm gonna try to write it.
Maggie: Wait, say it one more time.
Barbara: Okay.
Maggie: Cause I think I was where you were yesterday.
Cynthia: Can I...
Maggie: ...Like I sort of have it but barely.
Barbara: Okay.
Cynthia: This is so complex, would it be possible to.  Barbara, would you mind if I kind of videoed and recorded this, just?
Trevor: What we're saying, you mean?
Barbara:  Not me talking.
Cynthia: Not you talking.  Okay, then I won't.
Barbara: Cause I'm not gonna say it right.
Trevor: You can videotape me talking.
Cynthia: Oh, thank you, Trevor!
Barbara: You get Trevor talking, get Trevor talking cause he'll say it right...
[Trevor says something to Maggie.]
Cynthia: This way I can prove I'm actually in a science class.
Barbara: Okay, so...
Maggie: ...So.
Barbara: Get it at 90.  So we'll say here, just for the sake of it, it has 10 J.
Maggie: 10 J.
Barbara: Of magnetic potential.
Maggie: Then you push it.
Barbara: If we push it, we give it a little...
Maggie:...a little bit of kinetic.
Barbara: Of one, and as it gets closer and closer. Here, it would just have like 2, the 1 from the push and this, this distance was equal to 9 J, cause it speeds up and pulls it.
Cynthia: But.
Barbara: And this was 1.
(Trevor starts talking to himself about his answer.)
Barbara: So here, this was 2 and then it hits it with 11.
Maggie: Okay.
Barbara: Okay, so then...
Maggie: It goes to zero.
Barbara: It goes to zero and so transfers all the 11...
Maggie: ...to here.
Barbara: This one's zero cause it's touching.  This one we're saying is 9.
Maggie: So now it has.
Barbara: I would say it's just a teeny less than 9.
Maggie: Eleven plus nine, right?
Barbara: Well, the thing is, is I think it's just eleven.  This is what I was asking Trevor, and Trevor, would you look?
Trevor: Yeah!
Barbara: It hits with 11.  This is 9 going gravitat-, I mean magnetic.
Maggie: Pointing that way.
Barbara: Potential.
Trevor: But don't, you can't think of.
(Barbara is saying something about 11.)
Cynthia: You can't give a direction.
Maggie: Ugh, I miss forces.
Barbara: You can't?
Maggie: Okay.
Trevor: No, but it's, there's this invisible...
All at the same time: Cynthia: But force wouldn't explain this.
Maggie: I know, I know, I know.
Barbara: [...] Is it taking the 9 or is it adding to it?
Trevor: Let me just say.  If this ball moves this way, 9 has to go up, because the position is what matters to magnetic energy.
Between C and M: Cynthia: That's kind of the beauty of this force, unless the polarities could magically reverse.
Maggie: Right, yeah.
Cynthia: Yeah, let's not go there.
Maggie: Yeah.
Between T and B: Trevor: If this ball moves this way, that nine can add to something else.
Barbara: Oh, okay.
Trevor: Right, but it's...
Barbara:...Okay, so the eleven transfers.
Maggie: So eleven plus nine.
Trevor: No.
Maggie: No.  (Throws head back.)
Trevor: The total energy, yes.  The total energy will be twenty.
Barbara: Yet it's.
Maggie: But then what?
Trevor: How much of it is magnetic energy, and how much is kinetic?
Maggie: Nine is magnetic.
Barbara: So eleven's kinetic.
Maggie: And eleven is kinetic.
Barbara: And.
Trevor: Right, and as it moves away, the kinetic actually goes down...
Cynthia: ...and the magnetic increases.
Trevor: Because it's escaping the magnet.  You use some of that energy up to escape the magnet.
Cynthia: Right.
Maggie: Okay.
Cynthia: But, but..
Trevor: ...But not that much...
Cynthia: ...But it's compensated...
Barbara:...All your numbers [are at the top here?]...
Cynthia:...It's compensated by that increase of magnetic, right?
(Maggie is talking to Barbara, but I cannot understand her.)
Cynthia: So in a sense, we've...
Trevor: I don't understand what you're saying.
Cynthia: If it moves further away, then the magnetic energy has increased.
Trevor: Increased.

In this episode, I see Trevor bidding to be recognized as a science expert when:

• He offers to be video-recorded by Cynthia.
• He talks to himself as he writes out his answer.  The three ladies at his table are talking to one another, and I interpret this to mean that they are still working their answers out.  I interpret Trevor's talking out loud to himself as he writes to indicate to these three that he has already finished his answer (and, in a sense, doesn't need their help).
• He positions himself as the knower when he responds to Barbara's questions.

I see Trevor's group members recognizing him as a science expert when:

• Cynthia says, "Oh, THANK YOU, Trevor!" when he offers to be video-recorded.  The way she says it comes across as submissive (?) to me, as though she is so gratified that someone as smart as Trevor would give her his attention.  (I'm exaggerating a bit to make my point.)  Cynthia goes on to say that she can use the video of Trevor talking as 'proof that she was in a science class.'
• Barbara responds to Trevor's offer to be recorded by saying that "he will get it right," comparing his (anticipated correct) answer to hers (which she anticipates will be incorrect).
• Barbara asks Trevor to check her reasoning as she explains it to Maggie (positioning Trevor as an expert and both herself and Maggie as learners).

I'm not sure yet how these videos might inform theory about science identity, but I think they have potential!