[This applies to post-secondary physics as well. -- Jane Jackson, ASU ]
Broadening the Appeal of High-School Physics
In this article in The Physics
Teacher, Seattle high-school science teacher
Moses Rifkin bemoans the fact that many female
and minority-group students are not taking or
persisting in physics courses. "This is a missed
opportunity in our discipline," says Rifkin,
"because demographic diversity strengthens
science." He identifies three causes: first,
stereotype threat - the tendency of students in
stigmatized groups to internalize negative
beliefs (for example, girls aren't good at
science) and under-perform. Second, implicit
biases among teachers - "connections that our
subconscious brains make between members of
groups and stereotypical characteristics," says
Rifkin, "even if our conscious minds do not
endorse these relationships." (The Implicit
Association Test has revealed widespread beliefs
about the academic potential of African Americans
and the ability of females to excel in math and
science.) And third, the fact that when physics
teachers introduce key figures in the field, they
usually talk about Newton, Maxwell, Lenz, and
Einstein - all white European men.
Rifkin says he was "stunned" when he
first heard about stereotype threat, and has
taken several steps in his classroom to address
the broader problem:
* Stereotype threat - Simply learning
about the phenomenon can help students understand
the subtle dynamic that prevents some from doing
their best work in physics classes. In addition,
a brief values clarification exercise can reduce
racial and gender achievement gaps by offering
students some defenses against stereotype threat.
* Implicit bias - Teachers and
students learning about the prevalence of
negative beliefs in the majority population can
foster self-awareness and be a first step toward
reducing biases in the classroom.
* Monochromatic role models - While
it's true that the majority of major contributors
to the field are from a particular demographic,
the history of physics is more diverse than most
of us know. For example, Newton's first law comes
from Ibn Sina, a Persian scholar, and t online
resources highlight other contributors:
- African-American:
<http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/physics-peeps.html>
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/physics-peeps.html - Hispanic:
<http://www.hispanicphysicists.org/recognition/index.html>
http://www.hispanicphysicists.org/recognition/index.html
- Women: <http://cwp.library.ucla.edu>http://cwp.library.ucla.edu
- Women and minorities:
<https://www.aip.org/history-programs/physics-history/teaching-guides-women-minorities>https://www.aip.org/history-programs/physics-history/teaching-guides-women-minorities
"These resources raise the bar for us as physics
teachers," says Rifkin. "We can no longer plead
ignorance. This is not 'diversity for the sake of
diversity' but, rather, increasing the accuracy
with which we present physics This is something
we owe to all of our students, whether under- or
over-represented." It definitely helps to
mitigate stereotype threat and implicit bias.
* Metacognition - Rifkin describes a
short curriculum unit in his 12th grade physics
course in which students research the
demographics of physics in the U.S. It becomes
starkly apparent how skewed the field is toward
white males, and students explore the reasons and
create displays highlighting the work of
non-traditional physicists. "We are using the
tools of science (hypothesis formation,
experiment design, statistical analysis, the
communication of knowledge) to learn about
science itself," says Rifkin, "while eroding the
stereotype that certain groups don't do physics,
without putting students from those groups on the
spot." This unit, he has found, benefits all
students.
Rifkin concludes by addressing the
push-back he sometimes receives on these
strategies:
- Won't the time taken from learning physics
leave students unprepared? The many benefits of
this additional content more than outweigh the
costs, he believes. "All of my students are
learning about the culture of physics today,
crucial knowledge for those who hope to continue
in the field and useful for those who do not."
- Does this belong in a physics class? The
Next Generation Science Standards require that
teachers address "science as a human endeavor,"
he says, getting into scientists' backgrounds and
how science is influenced by society.
- Will students rebel against this? Rifkin has
polled his students (who are predominantly
white): 70 percent say the material is definitely
worthwhile and another 22 percent say it's
somewhat worthwhile.
- Won't this make teachers uncomfortable? "We
are uncomfortable because we lack experience
talking about race and gender in physics," says
Rifkin. "My ease and competency has grown with
each year." Start small, he advises, and build
from there.