#606: Vulnerability and Expertise in Intergenerational STEM: Teachers Negotiating Learner Identities in EMPWER

This short paper examines how two high school science teachers responded to invitations to position themselves as learners within an intergenerational program focused on environmental justice and data literacy, called EMPWER. Drawing on Holland et al.’s (1998) notion of figured worlds and Goodwin’s (1997) concept of interactional expertise, we traced how teachers negotiated identity and expertise within EMPWER as science educators, learners, and community members. A comparative case analysis showed that both teachers struggled with and resisted learner identities in different ways throughout the year-long project; however, one teacher was able to author a learner identity more consistently, while the other resisted learner positioning. Our findings speak to how teacher learning identities are shaped by prior figured worlds of school science and social expectations associated with expertise. We argue that intergenerational designs should support teacher vulnerability, share authority, and create conditions for purposeful partnership that build collective agency across generations.