Education researchers often compare performance across race and gender on research-based assessments of physics knowledge to investigate the impacts of racism and sexism on physics student learning. These investigations' claims rely on research-based assessments providing reliable, unbiased measures of student knowledge across social identity groups. We used classical test theory and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis to examine whether the items on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) provided unbiased data across social identifiers for race, gender, and their intersections. The data was accessed through the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes platform and included responses from 4,848 students posttests in 152 calculus-based introductory physics courses from 16 institutions. The results indicated that the majority of items (22) on the FCI were biased towards a group. These results point to the need for instrument validation to account for item bias and the identification or development of fair research-based assessments.

Bias on the Force Concept Inventory across the intersection of gender and race

The American Physical Society calls on its members to improve the diversity of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and Black, Indigenous, and people of color to become physicists. Introductory physics courses provide opportunities for recruiting and retaining diverse students or enacting policies and cultural practices that disproportionately harm students from minoritized groups. Introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism courses have received far less attention from researchers than introductory mechanics courses. To better understand the role introductory electricity and magnetism courses play in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersecting relationships between racism and sexism in inequities in student conceptual knowledge using a quantitative critical framework. The analyses used Bayesian hierarchical linear models to examine students' conceptual knowledge as measured by the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism. The data came from the LASSO database and included 3,686 students from 83 calculus-based courses at 16 institutions. The model indicated society owed educational debts in conceptual knowledge due to racism, sexism, or both to Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White Hispanic students and White women. Of these groups, society owed the largest educational debts to Black students. The courses, of which almost all used collaborative instruction (81 of 83) supported by learning assistants (66 of 83), added to the educational debts owed to Black students, maintained the debts owed to Hispanic and White Hispanic students and White women, and mitigated the debts owed to Asian students.

Societal Educational Debts Due to Racism and Sexism in Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism Courses

Professional societies call on their members to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. To meet this goal, introductory college courses need to repay the educational debts society owes due to racism and sexism. We investigated the size of and changes in society’s educational debts in conceptual knowledge in introductory chemistry, biology, and physics courses for majors using a critical quantitative framework. The varying gender and racial representation across these disciplines provided context for interpreting the relationship between society’s educational debts and representation across disciplines. We analyzed data from 22,520 students in 328 courses at 34 institutions collected with the LASSO platform using Bayesian hierarchical linear models. The models identified similar trends in educational debts due to racism and sexism in all three disciplines. We will discuss implications for research, instruction, and diversity in physics.

Society’s Educational Debts from Racism and Sexism in Science Disciplines

Educators and researchers often use research-based assessments to measure the efficacy of their courses. Limited resources exist, however, for interpreting assessment results. We will present analyses and representations created with data from more than 500 introductory physics courses that provide a context for interpreting assessment results. The data set comes from the online Learning About STEM Student Outcomes (LASSO) platform and the scientific literature. The representations include scatterplots of pretest and posttest scores and distributions of effect sizes, Cohen’s d with Hedges’ correction. These representations show how courses compare to the larger database before and after instruction. The results show that common rules of thumb for effect sizes are not useful for interpreting effect sizes on research-based assessments. Excel and R files are available at https://tinyurl.com/stemequityresources for readers to create their own visualizations overlaying their course data on the larger data set.

Tools for Identifying Effective Courses

Collaborative learning is increasingly common in physics education. At Western Washington University and Chico State, we are examining student management of confusion during small group activities, with a focus on the relationship between emotions and student engagement in tasks explicitly designed to trigger confusion. A primary context for our research is the Next Generation Physical Science and Everyday Thinking curriculum. We will use four types of data: written reflections, classroom videos, interviews, and experience sampling method (ESM) surveys. ESM is an in-the-moment survey that asks participants to report their affective experiences. We will use ESM to probe student frustration and engagement and to guide the collection of more in-depth data. We seek to describe ways in which students negotiate episodes of confusion to develop shared understanding. This talk will provide an overview of the ongoing project and will discuss how we have adapted the project in response to COVID.

The Social Negotiation of Confusion for Physics Learning

Poster Session 2C

poster

**Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics**

As a gateway discipline to STEM majors and careers, physics plays a central role in deciding who does, and who doesn't, get to discover and pursue scientific careers. Technical and scientific professionals are rewarded with economic privilege and status which affords them both social and cultural power. Therefore, social justice will be realized only when the opportunity, and the choice, to excel in physics is open to all students. The culture and practices of the physics classroom reflect the culture of physics at large, which raises the question of how our professional physics communities can embrace, rather than inadvertently repel, a diverse group of academics that can help improve physics culture.  To this end, the 2021 Physics Education Research Conference will focus on defining inclusive spaces and practices. Additionally, we will explore strategies for eliminating exclusionary practices in our classrooms, research spaces, and professional organizations. We call on the community to propose sessions that will drive conversations related to these initiatives throughout PERC 2021.

Please download the full program [here. ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TRMC_SYJ3PUqXyP7sskA7LRSA8ow0eRE/view?usp=sharing)

PERC SM 21

August 4, 2021 - August 5, 2021 in a Virtual Conference Format

Making Physics More Inclusive and Eliminating Exclusionary Practices in Physics

Poster Session 2D

POS.F-MO - Physics Education Research

Join AAPT and Physics Educators worldwide in developing and strengthening your professional connections by attending the 2021 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting. 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. Attending the virtual summer meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.

Please log in with your AAPT account or register for the event if you haven't already.

If you are registered please note that you need to be logged in with your AAPT email / credentials in order to get access.

Jayson Nissen

5

SHORT BIO

Presentations

Bias on the Force Concept Inventory across the intersection of gender and race

Societal Educational Debts Due to Racism and Sexism in Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism Courses

Society’s Educational Debts from Racism and Sexism in Science Disciplines

Tools for Identifying Effective Courses

The Social Negotiation of Confusion for Physics Learning

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