• Open Access

Investigating society’s educational debts due to racism and sexism in student attitudes about physics using quantitative critical race theory

Jayson M. Nissen, Ian Her Many Horses, and Ben Van Dusen
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, 010116 – Published 9 March 2021

Abstract

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. In the current educational system, it is unlikely for a student to become a physicist if they do not share the same attitudes about what it means to learn and do physics as those held by most professional physicists. Evidence shows college physics courses and degree programs do not support students in developing these attitudes. Rather physics education filters out students who do not enter college physics courses with these attitudes. To better understand the role of attitudes in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersecting relationships between racism and sexism in inequities in student attitudes about learning and doing physics using a critical quantitative framework. The analyses used hierarchical linear models to examine students’ attitudes as measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey. The data came from the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes database and included 2170 students in 46 calculus-based mechanics courses and 2503 students in 49 algebra-based mechanics courses taught at 18 institutions. Like prior studies, we found that attitudes either did not change or slightly decreased for most groups. Results identified large differences across intersecting race and gender groups representing educational debts society owes these students. White students, particularly White men in calculus-based courses, tended to have more expertlike attitudes than any other group of students. Instruction that addresses society’s educational debts can help move physics toward an inclusive culture supportive of diverse students and professionals.

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  • Received 14 April 2020
  • Accepted 11 January 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010116

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics Education Research

Authors & Affiliations

Jayson M. Nissen1, Ian Her Many Horses2, and Ben Van Dusen3

  • 1Nissen Education Research and Design, Corvallis, Oregon 97333, USA
  • 2School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
  • 3Department of Science Education, California State University Chico, Chico, California 95929, USA

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Vol. 17, Iss. 1 — January - June 2021

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