Collaborative Research: From Courses to Careers - Addressing Ableism in Physics through Faculty-Student Partnerships

合作研究：从课程到职业——通过师生合作解决物理学能力歧视问题

• 批准号: 2336368
• 负责人: Erin Scanlon
• 金额: $ 22.99万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Courses; Careers; Addressing

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving access in undergraduate physics courses and creating a more inclusive culture in physics. While there have been previous efforts to improve physics education, few have investigated disabled students’ experiences in undergraduate physics contexts. As the number of disabled students continues to increase in STEM, it is important both to support these disabled students in their STEM career paths and provide professional development for physics faculty about how to support disabled students in their courses and programs. To that end, this project will develop professional development experiences for both physics faculty and disabled STEM students that focuses on 1) promoting accessibility and inclusion in undergraduate physics courses and 2) facilitating mutually beneficial partnerships between disabled STEM students and physics faculty. The professional development efforts will support faculty in developing inclusive teaching practices and will support disabled students in navigating future STEM careers. The project will investigate the impact of this professional development effort, which could be a model for other institutions and STEM disciplines. Ultimately, this project aligns with NSF’s strategic goal to empower STEM talent to fully participate in science and engineering through the strategic objective of ensuring accessibility and inclusivity.To investigate the effectiveness of this professional development model, this collaborative project between Michigan State University and University of Connecticut will address three research questions: 1) How, and to what extent, do participating faculty develop fluency and improve knowledge in disability, accessibility, and inclusivity? How, and to what extent, do faculty implement changes and inclusive practices in their own classrooms? 2) How, and to what extent, do participating students develop fluency and improve knowledge in career readiness, available career paths, and job application processes? How, and to what extent, do students feel empowered to address ableism within the STEM community and career contexts? 3) How do participating faculty and students view their partnership during and after the workshop, and how does this partnership affect them as individuals? These research questions will be answered using qualitative methods, including interviews with participants and document analysis of workshop materials, as well as quantitative surveys to assess participants’ views and knowledge of disability in physics. From results from these studies, the project will advance knowledge about partnership-based professional development models in undergraduate STEM education, both improving access and inclusion in undergraduate physics settings as well as laying the foundation for future professional development efforts focused on accessibility and inclusion in undergraduate STEM education more broadly. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engage Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过改善本科物理学课程的获取并创造更具包容性的物理文化来为国家利益提供服务。尽管以前曾做过改善物理教育的努力，但很少有人研究了残疾学生在本科物理环境中的经历。随着残疾学生的数量继续增加，STEM的数量是支持这些残疾学生的STEM职业道路，并为如何为如何在课程和课程中为残疾学生提供支持的物理教师提供专业发展。为此，该项目将为物理教师和残疾人的STEM学生发展专业发展经验，这些学生专注于1）促进本科物理学课程的可及性和包容性，以及2）在残疾STEM学生和物理教师之间建立互惠互利的伙伴关系。专业发展努力将支持教师发展包容性教学实践，并将支持残疾学生在未来的STEM职业中导航。该项目将调查这项专业发展工作的影响，这可能是其他机构和STEM学科的典范。最终，该项目符合NSF的战略目标，即通过确保可访问性和包容性的战略目标使STEM人才能够充分参与科学和工程。为了调查这种专业发展模型的有效性，密歇根州立大学和康涅狄格大学之间的协作项目将解决三个研究问题：1）以及在哪些程度上及时地访问知识，并能够改善知识，并能够访问知识，并在范围内提高知识？教师的实施如何以及在多大程度上会在自己的教室中改变和包容性实践？ 2）参与学生如何以及在多大程度上发展流利性并提高职业准备，可用职业道路和工作申请流程的知识？学生如何以及在多大程度上感到有能力解决在STEM社区和职业环境中的能力主义？ 3）参与教师和学生在研讨会期间和之后如何看待他们的伙伴关系，这种伙伴关系如何影响他们作为个人？这些研究问题将使用定性方法来回答，包括与参与者的访谈和研讨会材料的文档分析，以及定量调查，以评估参与者对物理学中残疾的看法和知识。从这些研究的结果来看，该项目将促进有关基于伙伴关系的专业发展模型的知识，包括改善本科物理环境的访问和包容性，并为未来的专业发展努力奠定了基础，该工作着重于可访问性和纳入本科STEM教育的可访问性和包容性。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生的学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估的评估来支持的。