Culture Of Physics Research Articles

The influence of the educational process on the psychological state of students and teachers in Physics Culture and sports during the war

The influence of the educational process on the psychological state of students and teachers in Physics Culture and sports during the war

“On Mars, we will speak Arabic”: Negotiating identity in upper secondary physics in Denmark

AbstractSeeking to make upper secondary school physics more relevant and engaging, an online collaborative learning curriculum was designed. Each of the curriculum's lessons was structured as a goal‐based scenario about human scientists on Mars. Video and audio data from the curriculum's implementation in Denmark was collected. This study utilized the theoretical lenses intersectionality, repertoires of practice, and epistemic agency. The use of comics as an analytical tool provided a novel and accessible way to depict the complex dynamics within the physics classroom. It allowed for a multimodal representation of the data and enabled a nuanced examination of the students' interactions. Findings suggest that interactions were shaped by the students' identities and these dynamics shaped their repertoires of practice. Moreover, the interactions had a profound impact on students' epistemic agency in physics. Collaborative learning with a goal‐based scenario can include and empower diverse gender, racial, and language identities. It can also, however, work to disempower and exclude when the hegemonically white and masculine culture of physics is left unproblematized. This leads to the conclusion that if reform‐based science education is untethered from a critical stance on socioscientific issues, students and teachers may reproduce social problems as much as they also may challenge them.

Recognizing dominant cultures around assessment and educational change in physics programs

Leaders, policymakers, and researchers have called attention to the need to improve critical aspects of physics programs, from teaching and pedagogy to making physics more diverse and equitable. As such programmatic changes are challenging and require a second-order change to be effective, many physics faculty responsible for carrying them out are not equipped with the necessary experience and support to do so. This can result in a significant waste of resources and time. Moreover, while there is a robust body of literature in higher education focusing on institutional and cultural change, there is a limited understanding of the baseline of the culture of physics programs (where physics programs are starting from), a critical aspect that shapes the change effort. Dr. David Craig and Dr. Joel Corbo with the support of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers developed the Departmental Action Leadership Institutes (DALIs) to meet the needs of the physics community by supporting physics faculty to effectively design and implement departmental change focusing on areas needing improvement. In this research project, we developed case studies of five DALI-active physics programs from two DALI cohorts. We use a cultural dynamics lens to document facets of the dominant culture around how physics faculty approach and pursue change work. We see evidence of DALI participants’ growing awareness of taken-for-granted assumptions about educational change processes and assessment practices within their departmental cultures and coming to recognize and value alternative ways of collaborating and enacting change in their local contexts. We found that physics faculty typically approach change work in a rushed and way ignoring the use of formal evidence. In particular, we found that any data collection efforts are the primary responsibility of a single person, rarely becoming the focus of joint attention. Whenever data did receive joint attention, it was approached in a cursory way without meaningfully informing collective change efforts. This study lays the foundation to explore critical aspects of the dominant physics culture that may constrain enacting particular forms of programmatic change. In future work, we document the cultural shifts made by these DALI-active departments around change work. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Performing legitimate choice narratives in physics: possibilities for under-represented physics students

Higher education physics has long been a field with a disproportionately skewed representation in terms of gender, class, and ethnicity. Responding to this challenge, this study explores the trajectories of “unexpected” (i.e., demographically under-represented) students into higher education physics. Based on timeline-guided life-history interviews with 21 students enrolled in university physics programs across Sweden, the students’ accounts of their trajectories into physics are analyzed as choice narratives. The analysis explores what ingredients are used to tell a legitimate story of physics participation, in relation to dominant discourses in physics culture, and wider social and political discourses. Results indicate that students narrate their choice as based on motivations of physics being a prestigious and challenging subject, of a deep interest in and a natural ability for physics, as well as a wish to use physics for contributing to the world. While most of these affiliations to physics has been documented in earlier research, the study shows how they are negotiated in relation to social locations such as gender, class and migration history, and used to perform an authentic and legitimate choice narrative in the interview situation. Furthermore, the study reports and discusses the possibility of conceiving the role of physics in students’ lives as something beyond a “pure”, intellectually challenging, and “prestigious” subject. In contrast, and with implications for widening participation, the stories of “unexpected” physics students indicate that physics can be reconceived as socially and altruistically oriented.

Effects of male-dominated physics culture on undergraduate women

Effects of male-dominated physics culture on undergraduate women

Comparing Major Declaration, Attrition, Migration, and Completion in Physics With Other STEM Disciplines: A Sign of Inequitable Physics Culture?

This research uses 10 years of institutional data at a large public university in the USA to investigate trends in the undergraduate majors students declare, drop, and earn degrees, especially comparing physics to other disciplines. We find that physics has the lowest number of students of all science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines and it also has the highest rates of attrition of students who declare a major. While many STEM disciplines have students migrating both in and out of those majors, physics primarily has a uni-directional migration of students out of the major. Furthermore, physics has the lowest percentage of women undergraduate majors. Using an equity framework, we view these findings as signatures of inequitable and non-inclusive culture. We suggest that important roles may be played by stereotypes such as the incorrect belief that physics is accessible only to brilliant men, the issue of first-year college physics courses failing to energize students, and apathy in large physics departments toward improving intentional recruitment and retention of physics majors.

Considerations for Inclusive and Equitable Design: The Case of STEP UP Counternarratives in HS Physics

While physics is often promoted as being for everyone, its cultural narrative, i.e., what physicists do and who they are, has been and continues to be created by a dominant social group. As such, many students who come from marginalized backgrounds in physics are required to fit themselves into its narrow culture that does not reflect who they are and how they see the world. As physics educators, we have unconsciously internalized this narrow physics culture and need resources to help broaden our perceptions. To this end, we suggest some design principles for creating materials that help physics educators reflect on these issues and disrupt inequitable structures in their classrooms. We draw on the STEP UP project to exemplify how these design principles were implemented.

Climate in Physics Departments

A recent TPT call for papers asks for “more research … about how to tear down and/or overcome the barriers to success that the world, and science, and academia, and the culture of physics put in the way of those who are not white and male.” Women make up only 20% of bachelor’s degree recipients in physics. Hispanic people comprise less than 8%, with Black people accounting for less than half that number. While the representation of Hispanic people appears to be increasing over the last 10 years, the same is not true for Black people, nor is it true for women.

Strangers in Togetherville – Women, Physics and Popular Culture

Abstract By drawing on Jean Baudrillard’s cultural theory this paper aims to show how contemporary popular culture tells the stories of scientifically talented women of the past. In the course of my argument, I refer to books and films set in the past and focus on the women-and-science motif. Firstly, the stories of individual female scientists living long ago are analysed (Mileva Einstein, Joan Clarke), then, the collective female protagonists – wives of scientists living together in “togethervilles” (Los Alamos, Atomic City), and women scientists pictured in speculative fiction – are discussed. The cliches used in these texts – lonely forgotten geniuses, female worthies taken advantage of, ostracised women accused of not being feminine enough and devoted wives who help their men and their countries in World Wars I and II or the Cold War – reflect ideologies that Western culture used to believe in. Conversely, the two original presentations of past female scientists that I found both come from speculative fiction concerned with science and heavily influenced by the ideologies of science: science and pacifism, science and a sense of guilt, and science as a weapon in the quest for democracy and freedom.

Physics from an Underrepresented Lens: What I Wish Others Knew

In this paper, I (SH) will apply a counter-storytelling method to highlight a perspective that is not often present in the physics culture. The counter-storytelling (or counter-narrative) method gives voice to people from traditionally marginalized groups to share their untold experiences. Counter-storytelling, as the name implies, challenges common social views and ideas, and, in this paper, highlights the need for changes in the current physics culture. At a young age, I was never encouraged to go into a STEM field. I have always leaned more towards math and science, but I never thought of a science-related career until my sister inspired me in high school. I later realized that in STEM fields, people can let their imaginations run wild, making new observations and discoveries every day. And yet, amid pursuing these wonderful opportunities, individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM fields face challenging situations imposed by those surrounding them in the field. My physics instructor once told me that some people have their lives set on a more difficult mode than others because of their background and identities. As a Latina student whose family is from México, I have come to know an unfortunate truth: my gender, ethnicity, cultural background, and status create barriers for me. This has been the case throughout my life, but most especially in my journey pursuing an undergraduate STEM degree. Because of this, I want others to know my challenging experiences in education and how they have affected me. By sharing my story, I hope to encourage others to work for change in the STEM fields and in the classroom.

Assessing the Organizational Culture of Thai Synchrotron Light Research Institute

Organizational culture of an advanced physics institute in Thailand has been studied. The purpose of this work is to find out the existing dominant cultures of the institute. The authors applied qualitative and quantitative research approaches, i.e. focused group interview and questionnaire survey, respectively, and present their findings herein. For Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) explored, their dominant cultures are characterized by strategic direction, capability development, and organizational learning. These are considered as the top three strengths of the institute. The second-to-top strengths are team orientation, customer focus, and competition mind. The two sets of strengths solidly support the following dominant cultures: mission or competence, changeability or cultivation, and collaboration or involvement. These norms form SLRI’s core organizational cultures suitable for being a service and innovative organization. Since the institute is a non-profit enterprise owned by the Thai Government, safety and control culture must be practiced, however to a lesser extent.

OS SENTIDOS QUE OS ESTUDANTES ATRIBUEM AO ENSINO DE FÍSICA E À SUA ABORDAGEM HISTÓRICA

A literatura da área de ensino de ciências tem enfatizado o desinteresse dos estudantes pela aprendizagem dos conteúdos de Física. Considerando-se a importância da disciplina para a formação básica, neste artigo investiga-se o sentido que estudantes matriculados em um curso de Ensino Médio integrado ao Técnico de Informática atribuem à Física e à abordagem que adota a História da Ciência como viés de apresentação, discussão e reflexão sobre os conteúdos da disciplina. Com base no referencial teórico-metodológico fornecido pelo pensamento bakhtiniano, foram analisados os enunciados produzidos pelos alunos e seu professor de Física em entrevistas individuais e semiestruturadas. A análise revelou a incidência de elementos constituintes da cultura do ensino de Física na atribuição de sentidos que, embora reconheçam a importância da disciplina, a consideram de difícil compreensão, introdutória e dispensável para o prosseguimento dos estudos em determinadas áreas. Com este estudo, pretende-se pontuar a necessidade de investimentos na formação docente que habilitem os professores a problematizarem a cultura de ensino que apresenta a Física exclusivamente através de cálculos e fórmulas, produtora de verdades inquestionáveis, a-histórica e produzida por gênios. A transformação dessa cultura pode contribuir para a produção de novos sentidos em relação à Física e sua abordagem histórica.

Imagery, intuition and imagination in quantum physics education

In response to the authors, I demonstrate how threshold concepts offer a means to both contextualise teaching and learning of quantum physics and help transform students into the culture of physics, and as a way to identify particularly troublesome concepts within quantum physics. By drawing parallels from my own doctoral research in another area of contemporary physics—special relativity—I highlight concepts that require an ontological change, namely a shift beyond the reality of everyday Newtonian experience such as time dilation and length contraction, as being troublesome concepts that can present barriers to learning with students often asking “is it real?”. Similarly, the domain of quantum physics requires students to move beyond “common sense” perception as it brings into sharp focus the difference between what is experienced via the sense perceptions and the mental abstraction of phenomena. And it’s this issue that highlights the important role imagery and creativity have both in quantum physics and in the evolution of physics more generally, and lies in stark contrast to the apparent mathematical focus and lack of opportunity for students to explore ontological issues evident in the authors’ research. By reflecting on the authors’ observations of a focus on mathematical formalisms and problem solving at the expense of alternative approaches, I explore the dialectic between Heisenberg’s highly mathematical approach and Schrodinger’s mechanical wave view of the atom, together with its conceptual imagery, at the heart of the evolution of quantum mechanics. In turn, I highlight the significance of imagery, imagination and intuition in quantum physics, together with the importance of adopting an epistemological pluralism—multiple ways of knowing and thinking—in physics education. Again drawing parallels with the authors’ work and my own, I identify the role thought experiments have in both quantum physics education and in physics more generally. By introducing the notion of play, I advocate adopting and celebrating multiple approaches of teaching and learning, including thought experiments, play, dialogue and a more conceptual approach inclusive of multiple forms of representation, that complements the current instructional, mathematical approach so as to provide better balance to learning, teaching and the curriculum.

Salaries for female physics faculty trail those for male colleagues

Gender pay gap is tangled with many aspects of physics culture.

Commentary: Diversity in physics: Are you part of the problem?

Commentary: Diversity in physics: Are you part of the problem?

Linking the subcultures of physics: virtual empiricism and the bonding role of trust.

This article draws on empirical material concerning the communication and use of knowledge in experimental physics and its relations to the culture of theoretical physics. The role that trust plays in these interactions is used to create a model of social distance between interacting theoretical and experimental cultures. This article thus seeks to reintroduce trust as a fundamental element in answering the problem of disunity in the sociology of knowledge.

Exploring woman university physics students ‘doing gender’ and ‘doing physics’

This article explores what it can mean to be a woman physics student. A case study approach is used to explore how five women who are studying physics at a Swedish university simultaneously negotiate their doing of physics and their doing of gender. By conceptualising both gender and learning as aspects of identity formation, the analysis of the interviews with the five women offers insights into the nuances and complexities of how women relate to the gendered disciplinary culture of physics. This contrasts how research on gender and physics education has been predominantly concerned with comparisons of female and male students' attitudes and/or achievements. Furthermore, the analysis brings to the fore how it is not just the masculine connotations of physics that shape the experiences of the five women, but also the expectations on female physics students.

Some Key Issues in Creating Inquiry-Based Instructional Practices that Aim at the Understanding of Simple Electric Circuits

Many students in secondary schools consider the sciences difficult and unattractive. This applies to physics in particular, a subject in which students attempt to learn and understand numerous theoretical concepts, often without much success. A case in point is the understanding of the concepts current, voltage and resistance in simple electric circuits. In response to these problems, reform initiatives in education strive for a change of the classroom culture, putting emphasis on more authentic contexts and student activities containing elements of inquiry. The challenge then becomes choosing and combining these elements in such a manner that they foster an understanding of theoretical concepts. In this article we reflect on data collected and analyzed from a series of 12 grade 9 physics lessons on simple electric circuits. Drawing from a theoretical framework based on individual (conceptual change based) and socio-cultural views on learning, instruction was designed addressing known conceptual problems and attempting to create a physics (research) culture in the classroom. As the success of the lessons was limited, the focus of the study became to understand which inherent characteristics of inquiry based instruction complicate the process of constructing conceptual understanding. From the analysis of the data collected during the enactment of the lessons three tensions emerged: the tension between open inquiry and student guidance, the tension between students developing their own ideas and getting to know accepted scientific theories, and the tension between fostering scientific interest as part of a scientific research culture and the task oriented school culture. An outlook will be given on the implications for science lessons.

Polymer physics—The ugly duckling story: Will polymer physics ever become a part of “proper” physics?

Biological polymers such as DNA, RNA, and proteins are essential parts of life on Earth from its very beginning. People started using biopolymers many centuries ago. For example, ancient Egyptians prepared ink by mixing carbon black with Arabic gum, whereas Amazon Indians made boots from unvulcanized natural rubber extracted from hevea trees more that 25 centuries ago. People started synthesizing polymers during the first half of the 19th century, but they understood that these molecules are long linear chains only in the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, even now in the beginning of the 21st century, some physicists do not know that polymers exist, as polymer physics is still not a part of ‘‘proper’’ Physics education and culture. This situation with polymer physics hasn’t improved much either over the last 3 decades since the publication of de Gennes’ textbook ‘‘Scaling Concepts in Polymer Physics’’ or over the last 2 decades since his Nobel Prize in Physics. Personally, I do not recall seeing a polymer in any of the classes or seminars throughout my entire Physics education (B.S. from Caltech and Ph.D. from Harvard). Thus, according to my ‘‘proper’’ Physics education, polymers could not possibly be part of Physics.

Response by H. H. Pattee to Jon Umerez’s Paper: “Where Does Pattee’s “How Does a Molecule Become a Message?” Belong in the History of Biosemiotics?”

Umerez’s analysis made me aware of the fundamental differences in the culture of physics and molecular biology and the culture of semiotics from which the new field of biosemiotics arose. These cultures also view histories differently. Considering the evolutionary span and the many hierarchical levels of organization that their models must cover, models at different levels will require different observables and different meanings for common words, like symbol, interpretation, and language. These models as well as their histories should be viewed as complementary rather than competitive. The relation of genetic language and human language is the central issue. They are separated by 4 billion years and require entirely different models. Nevertheless, these languages have in common a unique unlimited expressive power that allows open-ended evolution and creative thought. Understanding the nature of this expressive power and how it arises remains a basic unsolved problem of biosemiotics.