Search for: All records

We present a collaborative duoethnography on the intersection of individual identities, a research project on empathy, and external events. The Oct. 7th attacks on Israel and ensuing invasion of Gaza raised difficult questions surrounding identity and relationships for the authors, one (Hamdan) a Muslim-Palestinian American cis-women postdoctoral researcher with family in the West Bank, the other (Franklin) a white, American Jewish cis-male professor with parents and extended family living in Israel. This study reveals the authors creating a space in which difficult conversations can occur, with attention to explicit and implicit power differentials. Reflective and generative writings reveal themes of fear, concern for each other, and appreciation for how their research on empathy both facilitates and benefits from these conversations. The work concludes with implications for how physics education researchers can better support each other in the face of external political and geo-political conflicts and pressures. 

Faculty members play a crucial role as change agents in promoting cultural transformation within academic environments and empathy, a fundamental component of effective teaching, mentoring, and collegiality, is essential for fostering a student-centered and holistic approach. We present a theoretical model for empathy development and navigation in physics faculty as they engage with students and colleagues. Two pathways—cognitive and affective—are connected with previous work and explored. Cognitive empathy, a slower, intellectual process, is mediated through reflective witnessing, whereas affective empathy, a faster, emotional process, builds on shared or adjacent lived experiences. Understanding the nuances associated with the different pathways can inform efforts to increase participation and foster an inclusive environment, which often presumes a meaningful understanding of what best supports individual students. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Traditional professional development (PD) often focuses solely on skills and knowledge, without explicitly attending to participants' sense of community. In this instrumental case study, we explore the impact of a community-building PD experience on an Emerging Discipline-Based Education Researcher's (EDBER's) sense of community. We center the experiences of one tenure-track faculty member, James (a pseudonym), who participated in a Professional Development for Emerging Education Researchers field school for EDBERs, an example of PD that intentionally attends to building community around research. We find that the PD experience contributed to building James' lasting of community in education research, and we call for more PD to shift towards being simultaneously skills-focused and community-focused. 

The ability to emotionally or intellectually understand another person’s thoughts and feelings — empathy — can foster critical connections that facilitate learning and collaboration. We present a case study of physics faculty that examines their experiences empathizing with students, both in and outside of the classroom. We expand on frameworks for understanding the empathy process by identifying key mediating factors, and note various barriers that faculty express as preventing them from taking empathetic action. Our analysis unpacks the mechanisms of communication and contextual information, which play key roles in the empathetic process, with implications for programs that rely on empathy to develop more inclusive STEM academic spaces. 

Newcomers to Discipline-based Education Research (DBER) face numerous challenges and supportive practices in becoming active members of their communities of practice. We present a framework for Montgomery’s groundskeeping leadership, which seeks to mitigate barriers and nurture community members for their growth and development (2020). We then apply that framework in the context of education researchers to examine some data from a set of interviews with Emerging Discipline-based Education Researchers. 

Graduation rates are a key measure of the long-term efficacy of academic interventions. However, challenges to using traditional estimates of graduation rates for underrepresented students include inherently small sample sizes and high data requirements. Here, we show that a Markov model increases confidence and reduces biases in estimated graduation rates for underrepresented minority and first-generation students. We use a Learning Assistant program to demonstrate the Markov model’s strength for assessing program efficacy. We find that Learning Assistants in gateway science courses are associated with a 9% increase in the six-year graduation rate. These gains are larger for underrepresented minority (21%) and first-generation students (18%). Our results indicate that Learning Assistants can improve overall graduation rates and address inequalities in graduation rates for underrepresented students. 

Abstract: We use the Adaptor-Innovator Theory and the Influence framework to interpret undergraduate physics laboratory students’ approaches to – and bids for – intellectual and directive authority. Students display behaviors that utilize structure and work within a defined system (adaptor) and, separately, behaviors that work outside the system (innovator), the latter often by engaging directly with equipment. Adaptors exhibit high authority by asserting experimental understanding, whereas innovators are attributed with high authority through their frequent, direct handling of the equipment. We interpret equitable collaborations as those in which students 1) have full access to the experimental or conversational floor adaptively or innovatively while being 2) acknowledged in their authority by their group. 

The use of the Physics GRE in graduate admissions has gained considerable attention in recent years. While studies have shown the problematic nature of the exam quantitatively, it is time that student experiences were also included in the discussion. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 69 current graduate physics and astronomy students about their process of deciding where to apply to graduate school. Physics GRE requirements played a substantial role in this decision, with 48 students mentioning the test as part of their process to narrow programs down to a personalized short-list. Participants discussed potential barriers (e.g., financial and travel) that affected some students, but not others, which created an unequal playing field for grad school applicants. Secondly, while the participants noticed a shift towards more departments having "optional'' GRE language, female student participants still felt the need to take and submit their Physics GRE scores, while male student participants truly saw "optional'' as optional. These results suggest that graduate programs requiring the Physics GRE are doing more than asking prospective graduate students to simply take a physics test, and that the use of 'optional' requirement language may be inadvertently disadvantaging the very students that they are trying to recruit. 

Faculty members involved in graduate admissions decisions have to determine who will be offered admissions to their respective graduate programs. In this study, we interviewed faculty at four institutions who currently serve or have served on their program's graduate admissions committee. The focus of this study was twofold: first, to explore what qualities faculty value in graduate students and second, to identify what sources of evidence faculty utilize in determining if a student possesses a desired quality. Results from these interviews showed that while qualities such as content knowledge and programming skills were valued, non-cognitive qualities such as self-motivation, resilience, and self-learning were also highly desired. The faculty noted that while current admissions practices can easily identify if a student has taken certain coursework, they typically lack the means to quickly assess non-cognitive qualities, which must often be inferred from the contents of personal statements and letters of recommendation. These results suggest that transparency on the part of graduate programs to better advertise the qualities they desire will assist letter writers and students writing personal statements to increase the impact of their application materials. 

Physics departments are increasingly working to improve diversity in graduate programs by using more holistic strategies in their admission and retention practices. However, completion rates for traditionally underserved groups are still problematic. By understanding and accounting for faculty and student divergence on challenges faced in retention, graduate programs will be better equipped to enact change. In this study of two graduate programs (one physics and the other astrophysics), faculty and graduate students were asked why graduate students leave their program, and to identify ways to reduce attrition. While the goal of improving retention was shared between faculty and graduate students, their visions for how retention could be improved were not aligned. Faculty believed that retention could be improved by reforming admissions practices to select for students with attributes critical for success in graduate school, such as resilience. In contrast, the graduate students noted more systemic or socio-cultural factors as impacting retention.