United States

A variety of pressures are felt by teachers to integrate programming and computational thinking into science classrooms. These pressures primarily arise from the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards and recent increases in emphasis on computer programming and computational thinking as methods of conducting investigations. Yet many preservice teachers are ill equipped to engage in investigatory computational practices and they often lack strong orientations or beliefs that doing so is valuable. This presentation will outline the preliminary results of an interpretation-based workshop where preservice elementary teachers interpret block coding rather than writing it in order to collect data about simple experiments.


AAPT SM 21

Changes in Preservice Elementary Teachers&#39; Attitudes Toward Computational Thinking

teacher education

computational thinkning

computer science

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Changes in Preservice Elementary Teachers' Attitudes Toward Computational Thinking

technical paper

While much of our research centers on recruiting more physics majors, the introductory physics courses serve a variety of STEM majors. Pre-Health majors account for a large portion of student enrollment in introductory physics. In this study, we investigate how Pre-Health majors are motivated to persist in their introductory physics course and how features of the course may shift their perceptions of physics. Pre-Health students are perceived to be extrinsically motivated to persist in their physics class as a means to an end in preparation for their MCAT or curricular requirements. Using Eccles Expectancy Value and Cost Theory, we test and analyze how Pre-Health majors enrolled in Modeling Instruction (MI) course change their perceptions of physics and their physics identity. This study will present results from surveys of about 140 students enrolled in MI in addition to several interviews exploring students’ classroom experiences and their reasons to persist.

The Costs to Persist in Introductory Physics for Pre-Health Majors

This talk will provide both zoomed-out and zoomed-in perspectives of LGBT+ experiences in Physics. Drawing on the results of a study by the American Physical Society, the climate experiences and persistence of LGBT+ physicists will be discussed focusing on intra-group differences: Experiences of exclusionary behavior were found to vary significantly by gender with transgender participants experiencing the most hostile climate; respondents who were out were found to be more comfortable at their workplaces; evidence was also found for differences in experience grounded in intersections with race. The talk will then examine the specific experiences of two LGBT+ individuals as they navigated a course, highlighting key moments where LGBT+ identities foregrounded themselves in the context of disciplinary thinking as well as ways in which existing support structures did not address their needs. These two perspectives will be used to highlight prospects for new research directions around LGBT+ identity in Physics Education.

LGBT+ Physicists: Harassment, Persistence, and Uneven Support Systems

What is queer theory? What are its basic terms of analysis? How might it apply to LGBT physicists? This presentation offers an introduction to this this field of thought, and uses historical examples to question some of the basic tenets of LGBT rights discourse

From LBGT to Queer: Physicists Without Identities

Women make up a shrinking portion of physics faculty in senior positions, a phenomenon known as a "leaky pipeline.'' While fixing this problem has been a priority in academic institutions, efforts have been stymied by the diverse sources of leaks. In this paper we identify a bias potentially contributing to the leaky pipeline. We analyze bibliographic data provided by the American Physical Society (APS), a leading publisher of physics research. By inferring the gender of authors from names, we are able to measure the fraction of women authors over past decades. We show that the more selective, higher impact APS journals have lower fractions of women authors compared to other APS journals. Correcting this bias may help more women publish in prestigious APS journals, and in turn help improve their academic promotion cases.

The Leaky Pipeline in Physics Publishing

While the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have grown in the past twenty years, the proportion of women in these fields has not seen the same growth. This article researches how inquiry-based instructional approaches can better support gender-equity in classrooms. It will look at the effects that confidence, group work, and Socratic questioning have on women in STEM courses, and how small changes in instruction can have large impacts on the experiences women have in STEM courses.

Supporting Gender-Equity in the STEM Classroom

Traditional high school physics curricula focused on meeting the Next Generation Science Standards and specific state standards do not typically address issues of racism and sexism in physics. In the 2020-2021 academic year, I facilitated discussions centered on five units from the Underrepresented Curriculum in three high school physical science classes. The curriculum was modified to focus on issues relevant to and valued by my students, (80% black or African American, 10% Hispanic/LatinX, and 10% white or Caucasian), such as taking into account their racial and ethnic background, gender, interests, and reading levels. I will offer insight into how the Underrepresented Curriculum can be modified to better relate to students, authenticate physics and center students’ learning on social justice.


Reflection on Underrepresented Curriculum Implementation in an Urban K-12 Setting

This research focuses on the experiences of three undergraduate women majoring in physics and astronomy. Specifically we conducted semi-structured, empathetic interviews which reveal how uncomfortable physics environments inside and outside of the classroom exclude undergraduate women. The women give accounts of the behaviors of their male peers and instructors that influenced the physics culture. We use standpoint theory to focus on the experiences of undergraduate women to provide a holistic perspective of physics as well as identify key issues that these women faced in their undergraduate physics program and potential strategies to implement in the future to support undergraduate women in physics. Some of their suggestions include providing mentoring for women, training sessions, and establishing a code of conduct.

Negative Impacts on female physics majors of Cold Physics Environment

This study examines survey data from 2,129 women undergraduates at CUWiP (Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics) in order to classify what led them to study physics. We use expectancy-value and self-efficacy theory to create a coding framework based on different types of value and efficacy expectations in order to group responses. We find that the most common attractions are social persuasion, which is due to pressure or persuasion from people around the students, and intrinsic value, which is related to the inherent value of engaging in physics.

Investigating the Relationship Between Motivation and Retention in Women Undergraduates

Informal physics programs can play a vital role in supporting student learning and sense of community beyond the formal settings of a classroom or laboratory. This work builds on a recent study of the impact of facilitating informal physics programs on students’ physics identity, sense of belonging, and career skills development by narrowing the focus to speciﬁcally examine effects on female students who are underrepresented in physics. We found a signiﬁcant shift in conﬁdence of choice of major when compared prior to and after facilitating informal physics programs. All female students who were interviewed discussed a positive effect of participating in informal programs on their interest and motivation with regards to the ﬁeld of physics and the development of characteristics indicative of a growth mindset.

Impact of Informal Physics Programs on Female Students

Bridgewater State University is continuing to grow an undergraduate physics teacher preparation program during the pandemic using various strategies. In the Spring of 2020, we began teaching a one credit seminar course called Physics Teaching Methods which runs on a four-semester rotation of topics. The course is designed to attract students early in their undergraduate career, retain their interest in teaching, build physics teacher identity and community, and teach the foundations of physics pedagogical content knowledge. Our course has seen steady enrollment throughout the pandemic even as we switched to an online, synchronous format as well as increasing numbers of enrolled students working as peer tutors and learning assistants in our introductory physics courses. I’ll share our experience developing and teaching this course as well as our successes and challenges.

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