Taking on a manager role can support women’s physics lab identity development

Prior research has indicated that students in the undergraduate physics lab divide work inequitably with regard to gender. In this work, we further probed women’s experiences in lab group work, focusing on women who take on managerial and leadership roles in the lab. We interviewed and surveyed women enrolled in a sophomore-level project-based lab course, drawing on a practice-linked identity framework to characterize their opportunities for engagement and identity development within the course. Although we observed some gender inequities in group work, we also found that taking on a manager role had a positive impact on many women’s development of physics lab identity. Our results suggest that instructors should take into account women’s individual experiences and preferences for particular roles when structuring equitable group work.

Figure 1

Nasir and Hand’s practice-linked identity framework [39], adapted to our research context. The manager and leader roles that women take up can positively or negatively influence their identity development, engagement, and learning in the physics lab. This influence is mediated through three key factors: taking up integral roles in the lab, access to knowledge of the practice as a whole, and opportunities for self-expression.

Figure 2

Characteristics of the manager and leader roles, as defined by the interviewees. The leader role includes all of the characteristics of the manager role, as well as additional ones.