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1. A QuantCrit Investigation of Society’s Educational Debts Due to Racism and Sexism in Chemistry Student Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00352  

   Van Dusen, Ben; Nissen, Jayson; Talbot, Robert M.; Huvard, Hannah; Shultz, Mollee (July 2021, Journal of Chemical Education)

   null (Ed.)

   The American Chemical Society holds supporting diverse student populations engaging in chemistry as a core value. We analyzed chemical concept inventory scores from 4,612 students across 12 institutions to determine what inequities in content knowledge existed before and after introductory college chemistry courses. We interpreted our findings from a Quantitative Critical (QuantCrit) perspective that framed inequities as educational debts that society owed students due to racism, sexism, or both. Results showed that society owed women and Black men large educational debts before and after instruction. Society’s educational debts before instruction were large enough that women and Black men’s average scores were lower than White men’s average pretest scores even after instruction. Society would have to provide opportunities equivalent to taking the course up to two and a half times to repay the largest educational debts. These findings show the scale of the inequities in the science education systems and highlight the need for reallocating resources and opportunities throughout the K-16 education system to mitigate, prevent, and repay society’s educational debts from sexism and racism. 

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2. Educational debts incurred by racism and sexism in students’ beliefs about physics

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2019.pr.Nissen  

   Nissen, Jayson M.; Van Dusen, Ben (January 2020, Physics Education Research Conference 2019)

   The American Physical Society calls on its members to improve the diversity of physics by sup- porting an inclusive culture that encourages women and people of color to become physicists. Becoming a physicist demands a set of beliefs about what it means to learn and do physics. Rather than physics courses and degree programs supporting students in developing these beliefs, evidence shows that physics education filters out students without sufficient beliefs. To better understand the role of beliefs in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersectional nature of race/racism and gender/sexism in inequities in student beliefs towards learning and doing physics using a critical quantitative intersectionality framework. The analyses used hierarchical linear models to examine students’ beliefs as measured by the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey. The data came from the LASSO database and included 1248 students in 29 calculus-based mechanics courses. Like prior studies, we found that beliefs either did not change or slightly decreased for most groups. Results identified large differences across intersecting race and gender groups. White students, particularly White men, tended to have more expert-like beliefs than any other group of students. Physics instruction must address these educational debts to move toward an inclusive culture supportive of diverse students and professionals. 

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3. Is the Force Concept Inventory biased across the intersections of gender and race?

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.21.010137  

   Buncher, John B; Nissen, Jayson M; Van_Dusen, Ben; Talbot, Robert M (April 2025, Physical Review Physics Education Research)

   Research-based assessments (RBAs) allow researchers and practitioners to compare student performance across different contexts and institutions. In recent years, research attention has focused on the student populations these RBAs were initially developed with because much of that research was done with “samples of convenience” that were predominantly white men. Prior research has found that the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) behaved differently for men and women using differential item functioning (DIF) analysis. We extend this research in two ways. First, we test the FCI for DIF across the intersection of gender and race for Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and White Hispanic men and women. Second, we apply the Eaton and Willoughby five-factor model of the FCI to interpret the results of the DIF analysis. We found large DIF on a large number of FCI items. The patterns of items with large DIF follows the five-factor model. The alignment of DIF with this factor structure, along with the measurement invariance of this factor structure across these ten social identities, indicates that the items on the FCI are likely not biased but are instead measuring real differences in physics knowledge among these groups. We frame these differences as educational debts that society owes to these marginalized groups that physics instruction needs to actively repay. 

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4. Equity in college physics student learning: A critical quantitative intersectionality investigation

   https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21584  

   Van Dusen, Ben; Nissen, Jayson (June 2019, Journal of Research in Science Teaching)

   Abstract We investigated the intersectional nature of race/racism and gender/sexism in broad scale inequities in physics student learning using a critical quantitative intersectionality. To provide transparency and create a nuanced picture of learning, we problematized the measurement of equity by using two competing operationalizations of equity:Equity of IndividualityandEquality of Learning. These two models led to conflicting conclusions. The analyses used hierarchical linear models to examine student's conceptual learning as measured by gains in scores on research‐based assessments administered as pretests and posttests. The data came from the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes' (LASSO) national database and included data from 13,857 students in 187 first‐semester college physics courses. Findings showed differences in student gains across gender and race. Large gender differences existed for White and Hispanic students but not for Asian, Black, and Pacific Islander students. The models predicted larger gains for students in collaborative learning than in lecture‐based courses. The Equity of Individuality operationalization indicated that collaborative instruction improved equity because all groups learned more with collaborative learning. The Equality of Learning operationalization indicated that collaborative instruction did not improve equity because differences between groups were unaffected. We discuss the implications of these mixed findings and identify areas for future research using critical quantitative perspectives in education research. 

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5. How students reason with derivatives of vector field diagrams

   Topdemir, Zeynep; Thompson, John R; Loverude, Michael E (October 2023, The Learning and Teaching of Calculus Across Disciplines – Proceedings of the Second Calculus Conference)

   Dreyfus, T; González-Martín, A S; Nardi, E; Monaghan, J; Thompson, P W (Ed.)

   Physics students are introduced to vector fields in introductory courses, typically in the contexts of electric and magnetic fields. Vector calculus provides several ways to describe how vector fields vary in space including the gradient, divergence, and curl. Physics majors use vector calculus extensively in a junior-level electricity and magnetism (E&M) course. Our focus here is exploring student reasoning with the partial derivatives that constitute divergence and curl in vector field representations, adding to the current understanding of how students reason with derivatives. 

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