In a typical science class, communication exercises may include a variety of outputs including lab reports, posters, reflective writing, or research proposals. However, a growing number of students are engaging in more complex and professional communication endeavors, including scientific publication. The chance to write a research paper and experience the peer-review and publication processes may provide students the opportunity to integrate several practices from the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as share their research in a more public setting. Although we have some limited understanding in terms of the outcomes that students experience when engaging in peer-review and publication of their science research papers, we have no information or data regarding why students want to participate in these processes. As such, the purpose of this study is to investigate the motivations of pre-college students to pursue peer-review and publication of their scientific research papers. Using the theory of science identity to analyze the data, I found that students view publication as a mechanism to grow their scientific skills and be recognized as a scientist. The findings suggest that providing students the opportunity to share their research in more public settings could be a factor in developing their science identity.
more »
« less
Hermione and the Secretary: how gendered task division in introductory physics labs can disrupt equitable learning
Physics labs provide a unique opportunity for students to grow their physics identity and science identity in general since they provide students with an opportunity to tinker with experiments and analyze data in a low-stakes environment. However, it is important to ensure that all students are benefiting from the labs equally and have a positive growth trajectory. Through interviews and reflexive ethnographic observations, we identify and analyze two common modes of work that may disadvantage female students in introductory physics labs. Students who adopt the Secretary archetype are relegated to recording and analyzing data, and thus may miss out on much of the opportunity to grow their physics and science identities by engaging fully in the experimental work. Meanwhile, students in the Hermione archetype shoulder a disproportionate amount of managerial work, and also may not get an adequate opportunity to engage with different aspects of the experimental work that is essential for helping them develop their physics and science identities. We use a physics identity framework to investigate how students under these modes of work may experience stunted growth in their physics and science identity trajectories in their physics lab course. This stunted growth can then perpetuate and reinforce societal stereotypes and biases about who does physics. Our categorization not only gives a vocabulary to discussions about equity in the physics lab, but may also serve as a useful touchstone for those who seek to center equity in efforts to transform physics instruction.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10303247
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- European Journal of Physics
- Volume:
- 41
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0143-0807
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 035702
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Frank, Brian W. ; Jones, Dyan L. ; Ryan, Qing X. (Ed.)Prior work has found inequities in what experimental roles students take on during instructional labs. Research also suggests that this role division might arise implicitly and that prompting explicit role negotiation might improve equity in lab group work. To understand these various ways students negotiate roles in their lab groups, we use the lens of positioning to analyze two different video episodes of a gender-and-race-diverse group of three students. In one episode, students implicitly take on roles through subtle negotiations and in the second episode, one student explicitly assigns roles. We find that the positioning dynamics in both episodes lead to inequitable learning experiences within the group. This inequity, moreover, occurs along gender and racial lines, prompting future work relating students' intersectional identities to their positioning dynamics in small groups.more » « less
-
more » « less
Introduction It is critical for STEM students to be able to discuss science with diverse audiences, yet many STEM students do not receive adequate training in these skills. When students have the skills to communicate about science, they may feel a resulting sense of empowerment as a scientist as well as help members of society understand science.
Methods In this study, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a workshop that gave students understanding of and practice in applying Inclusive Science Communication. We assessed the workshop via a mixed-methods approach.
Results We quantified student affective measures that are associated with STEM persistence, such as science self-efficacy and science identity, showing that the workshop increased these measures both for students of marginalized identities and for students who do not hold these identities. We also assessed student open-ended responses for themes related to the Theory of Planned Behavior, Community Cultural Wealth, and White Supremacy Culture, finding that forms of cultural capital empowered students to perform science communication behaviors while power imbalances, fear of conflict, and perfectionism presented barriers to these behaviors.
Discussion This study highlights the importance of providing explicit training and practice in Inclusive Science Communication for undergraduate STEM students. Our results also suggest that students need the opportunity for reflexivity – that is, the practice of reflecting upon their identities and motivations – in order to develop in their identity and confidence as scientists and science communicators.
-
In this proposal, we will share some initial findings about how teacher and student engagement in cogenerative dialogues influenced the development of the Culturally Relevant Pedagogical Guidelines for Computational Thinking and Computer Science (CRPG-CSCT). The CRPG-CSCT’s purpose is to provide computer science teachers with tools to enhance their instruction by accurately reflecting students’ diverse cultural resources in the classroom. Additionally, the CRPG-CSCT will provide guidance to non-computer science teachers on how to facilitate the integration of computational thinking skills to a broad spectrum of classes in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, and mathematics. Our initial findings shared here are part of a larger NSF-funded research project (Award No. 2122367) which aims to better understand the barriers to entry and challenges for success faced by underrepresented secondary school students in computer science, through direct engagement with the students themselves. Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, the researchers have been working with a small team of secondary school teachers, students, and instructional designers, as well as university faculty in computer science, secondary education, and sociology to develop the CRPG-CSCT. The CRPG-CSCT is rooted in the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) and borrows from Muhammad’s (2020) work in Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. The CRPG-CCT is being developed over six day-long workshops held throughout the academic year. At the time of this submission, five of the six workshops had been completed. Each workshop utilized cogenerative dialogues (cogens) as the primary tool for organizing and sustaining participants’ engagement. Through cogens, participants more deeply learn about students’ cultural capital and the value of utilizing that capital within the classroom (Roth, Lawless, & Tobin, 2000). The success of cogens relies on following specific protocols (Emdin, 2016), such as listening attentively, ensuring there are equal opportunities for all participants to share, and affirming the experiences of other participants. The goal of a cogen is to reach a collective decision, based on the dialogue, that will positively impact students by explicitly addressing barriers to their engagement in the classroom. During each workshop, one member of the research team and one undergraduate research assistant observed the interactions among cogen participants and documented these in the form of ethnographic field notes. Another undergraduate research assistant took detailed notes during the workshop to record the content of small and large group discussions, presentations, and questions/responses throughout the workshops. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the field notes. Additionally, at the conclusion of each workshop, participants completed a Cogen Feedback Survey (CFS) to gather additional information. The CFS were analyzed through open thematic coding, memos, and code frequencies. Our preliminary results demonstrate high levels of engagement from teacher and student participants during the workshops. Students identified that the cogen structure allowed them to participate comfortably, openly, and honestly. Further, students described feeling valued and heard. Students’ ideas and experiences were frequently affirmed, which served as an important step toward dismantling traditional teacher-student boundaries that might otherwise prevent them from sharing freely. Another result from the use of cogens was the shared experience of participants comprehending views from the other group’s perspective in the classroom. Students appreciated the opportunity to learn from teachers about their struggles in keeping students engaged. Teachers appreciated the opportunity to better understand students’ schooling experiences and how these may affirm or deny aspects of their identity. Finally, all participants shared meaningful suggestions and strategies for future workshops and for the collective betterment of the group. Initial findings shared here are important for several reasons. First, our findings suggest that cogens are an effective approach for fostering participants’ commitment to creating the conditions for students’ success in the classroom. Within the context of the workshops, cogens provided teachers, students, and faculty with opportunities to engage in authentic conversations for addressing the recruitment and retention problems in computer science for underrepresented students. These conversations often resulted in the development of tangible pedagogical approaches, examples, metaphors, and other strategies to directly address the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students in computer science. Finally, while we are still developing the CRPG-CSCT, cogens provided us with the opportunity to ensure the voices of teachers and students are well represented in and central to the document.more » « less
-
more » « less
Abstract Research exploring students’ learning from physical and virtual labs has suggested that on the whole, students learn science content just as well, if not better from virtual labs as they do from physical labs. However, the affordances of physical labs might support the learning of specific skills and competencies that are just as crucial for learning science. In this study, we examined students’ discussions as they worked on physical and virtual labs to better understand how they learned from each, and the kinds of learning that each type of lab supported. One hundred and fifteen 6th grade students from three science teachers’ classes participated in this study. We examined audio data from all available groups as they engaged in physical and virtual labs (
n = 14 groups; physical,n = 8 groups; virtual,n = 6 groups). We found that students conducting physical labs engaged in a significantly higher proportion of talk related to setting up apparatus and taking measurements and calculating outputs. Students who performed virtual labs, on the other hand, engaged in significantly more discussions about making predictions and understanding patterns of relationships between variables, and interpreting science phenomena. While students in the Virtual condition engaged in discussions that were more focused on the relationships between science ideas, students in the Physical condition learned science practices related to planning and carrying out investigations that are equally valuable. Our findings suggest that learning from one experimental modality may complement and supplement the relative weaknesses of the other, indicating a need for strategically combining the two. Implications and future directions are discussed.
