United States

Why do physics graduate students leave their programs? Previous studies report that nearly 40% of physics graduate students do not complete their Ph.D. programs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 54 graduate students from 23 institutions and asked why physics and astronomy graduate students discontinue their graduate studies. Graduate students cited a variety of cultural and systemic issues that negatively impacted their sense of belonging in the physics community, such as citing unhealthy expectations and hostile environments. In addition, personal non-academic (e.g., health-related) reasons were also frequently mentioned. Finally, a lack of available support structures contributed to students’ discontinuing their graduate studies. Understanding the mechanisms behind student departure is the first step in making positive changes to increase retention for all students in physics.

AAPT SM 22

Why Graduate Students Leave: Exploring Student Perspectives and Experiences

AAPT meetings are a great way to reflect on your teaching, recommit to best practices and re-energize your career with new research, products, and techniques. Listen to internationally known plenary speakers, attend sessions, workshops, and special activities. This meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.



technical paper

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that supports instructors in designing inclusive learning environments that anticipate and plan for variations in students’ needs, abilities, and interests. UDL-aligned instructional design may reduce the need for accommodations for some students with disabilities. In this study, we explore postsecondary physics instructors’ approaches to adapting their teaching and learning environment while engaged in a year-long UDL learning community. Revealed causal mapping (RCM) is an analytic technique that uncovers experts’ mental maps about their subject domain. We employ RCM to value instructors’ knowledge and experiences and identify motivations and goals of the learning community members as they select, implement, and reflect on UDL-aligned modifications to their instruction.

Causal mapping analysis of Universal Design for Learning-aligned instructional changes

Previous literature shows that active learning (e.g., group work) supports student learning better when compared with traditional courses. However, many instructors are not trained to foster effective and inclusive group work. To support faculty implementing group work, we created a guide by reviewing literature in three topical domains: cognitive science, research-based instructional strategies, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. We then compiled 29 recommendations for practice aggregated into 6 categories: 1) creating group work activities; 2) creating groups of students; 3) first day framing; 4) supporting students to engage in group work; 5) classroom culture, norms, and practices; and 6) grading group work. We interviewed studio physics instructors to investigate the face validity of the guide. In this talk, we will present the development process of the guide, recommendations from the group work guide, and examples of how the recommendations can be implemented in high school or postsecondary courses.

Fostering Group Work in Studio Physics: Developing an Instructor Guide

Understanding experimental measurement uncertainty is a key learning goal of undergraduate physics laboratory instruction. Most prior research on student thinking about experimental uncertainty has focused on the introductory level, where uncertainty is treated as equivalent to experimental error. Intermediate- and upper-level quantum mechanics courses, however, can further complexify student understanding by introducing a different meaning for measurement uncertainty as an inherent part of the theory of quantum mechanics. We developed a survey to probe students’ thinking about the sources of uncertainty in four different experimental contexts involving classical and quantum systems. In this talk I will describe the sources of uncertainty that students identified in classical versus quantum contexts and discuss the instructional implications of these results.

“Quantum Weirdness”: Physics Paradigm and Student Thinking About Experimental Uncertainty

Physics in the 21st century will be marked by these 5 characteristics. -Active Engagement -Embedded Science Practices -Continuous, Personalized Feedback -Unrestricted Exploration of Phenomena -Multi-modal (Face-to-face an non-face-to-face) What are the barriers that prevent so many of us physics teachers from achieving these ideals? How can we overcome those barriers?

What does 21st Century Physics Look Like?

When our university imposed strict social distancing restraints in response to the pandemic, I developed a technique to offer introductory physics labs at our two-year access campus, whereby exactly one student per lab team actually came to the lab room and operated the equipment, and the remaining team members joined remotely. All team members worked together in real time using a shared Google Sheet, while simultaneously viewing the apparatus and communicating with one another through Zoom. I assigned POGIL-style roles to foster authentic collaboration and work balance within each team (and checked the Sheet's edit history afterward to be sure). In this talk, I describe the implementation details and technological challenges of this technique; outline its post-pandemic continuation as a student accommodation mechanism; and explore its potential as an alternative to "bootcamp" labs for "mostly-online" lab course delivery.

Blended Lab Teams: From Pandemic "hack" to Online Innovation

We have developed a new learning format to reach students around the world during the pandemic: virtual and interactive learning units. They consist of a unique combination of pre-recorded explanatory videos, interactive elements such as quizzes, screen experiments, and expert interviews. We consider interactive learning units to be very promising for incorporation into remote, blended, and face-to-face teaching and learning of physics. In this contribution, we present an interactive learning unit about Positron-Emission-Tomography created with H5P (cern.ch/petworkshop). PET is one application of particle physics in medical diagnostics, whereby particle detectors are used, for example, to locate a tumor. Empirical studies have shown that medical applications of physics are particularly interesting for students. We highlight the main components of the interactive learning unit about PET and provide ideas how to use the material in your physics lessons.

A Virtual and Interactive Learning Unit about Positron-Emission-Tomography

When the pandemic forced most of us online, many teachers made use of their college’s Learning Management System. However, I have always found such systems to be slow and laggy, requiring way too many steps to update, and thus almost unusable to my ADHD brain. It was even more challenging during my wandering adjunct days when I might be teaching at multiple schools with their own systems and setups. Fortunately, I have dabbled in web development and was able to come up with an alternative. In this presentation I will describe some of the tools and practices I have created to replace the LMS with something more efficient for myself and my students alike.

Replacing the LMS as an ADHD Professor and Web Developer

I was fortunate to meet Curt Hieggelke almost 30 years ago when I was a research physicist looking to get hired as an adjunct. I eventually became Curt's full-time colleague at Joliet Junior College. In addition to his well-known national work that others will focus on, Curt cared deeply about Joliet Junior College and the local AAPT Sections (Illinois Section, Chicago Section). Curt made a huge difference at the college where among other things he served at various times as a department chair, president of the faculty union, and an influential voice on any committee that involved technology at the college. Curt also was very involved in the Illinois Section where he served as an officer, meeting host, and seemingly permanent member of the executive council. My talk will focus on Curt's local accomplishments.

Curt Hieggelke in Joliet and Illinois

Imagine your students working together on an activity that engages them with authentic data, is aligned with topics you already teach, and builds their confidence in doing science, while becoming more data fluent. Rubin Observatory has developed free, online investigations that use intuitive data visualizations and interactive analysis tools. Investigations are designed to take into account classroom time and technology constraints, and address the reasoning levels and common learning challenges of students. While they can be used asynchronously, a face to face setting is optimal for active-learning and discussion. These investigations are appropriate for students in advanced middle school through “Astro 101” college courses. They are accessible to students of all backgrounds and abilities. All investigations incorporate the three-dimensional learning design of the NGSS and come with extensive teacher support materials, including formative and summative assessments.

Rubin Observatory’s Approach to Improving Data Fluency

In this talk, I will present a methodical (step by step) spatial curriculum focused on teaching students about the complex astronomy concept of seasons. The curriculum teaches students about seasons using spatial activities to improve their spatial thinking, reasoning, and conceptual understanding of the topic. This spatial curriculum requires minimum material and is easy to implement for middle or high school students. The curriculum was implemented in 6th grade at a STEM school. The 7-lesson plan curriculum includes spatial components like 2D and 3D drawings, videos, and simulations combined with group discussions. Students use digital diaries (Google Slides) as means for journaling and learning about various concepts related to the seasons. The implementation showed that spatial activity improved students’ spatial thinking and reasoning. Students also demonstrated an overall increase in conceptual understandings about seasons and showed more interest in learning new astronomy topics using a similar spatial curriculum.

Why Graduate Students Leave: Exploring Student Perspectives and Experiences

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Causal mapping analysis of Universal Design for Learning-aligned instructional changes

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