Who Gets to Participate in Computational Physics? Racial and Gender Patterns in Group Work

• In Event: Computational Thinking in Elementary and Secondary Classrooms: Models for Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

Objectives
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; Lead States, 2013) call for K-12 science teachers to infuse opportunities for computational thinking into their science classes, with physics classes being strong initial candidates for this implementation. With the image of physics and computer science appealing more to White males (Peckham et al, 2007; NRC, 2013), the objective of this work was to support high school physics teachers in developing equitable forms of computational learning opportunities for their students of color and gender minoritized students. This study describes the participation patterns of these historically marginalized social marker groups in STEM as they engage in small groupwork around computational modeling activities.

Theoretical Framework
Participation is a crucial part of the learning process (Wenger, 1998). Equity depends on students having access to a fair distribution of opportunities to participate (Esmonde, 2009). In this study, we drew on Shah and Lewis’s (in press) notion of participatory equity, which refers to “a condition where opportunities to participate—and participation itself—are fairly distributed among all students involved in a learning interaction” (p. 6). The following research question guided our study: What equity patterns emerged for gender minoritized students and students of Color in these high school physics classes as they worked in small groups around a computational modeling activities?

Methods & Data Sources
Eight high school physics teachers engaged in this equity work using a classroom observation tool called EQUIP (https://www.equip.ninja/). EQUIP allows teachers to analyze patterns in the quantity and quality of classroom participation, and disaggregate these patterns by the social markers of students involved. A total of 20 video recordings were made of students working in groups of across the 8 classrooms. Groups typically consisted of 2-3 students, and data were collected across 5 observation dates. Participating teachers developed their own coding schemes idiosyncratic to their local classroom contexts, and used EQUIP to code all 20 video recordings. This study examines patterns in the quantitative analytics generated by their use of EQUIP.

Results
We found considerable variation in equity patterns in groupwork across the 8 teachers’ classrooms. In the majority of racially diverse groups, data show evidence that racially minoritized students—particularly Latinx students—participated at disproportionately lower rates. With respect to gender, there was a near even split between groups where girls experience more and less equitable rates of participation. We did not find any classrooms where there was consistently equitable participation by either female students or students of Color.

Scholarly Significance
Greater equity in physics education begins at the classroom level. Although most equity-related discourse in STEM focuses on “pipeline” representation (e.g., course enrollment), this study provides evidence of equity patterns at the level of classroom interaction. This is significant because classroom-level data can provide an impetus for teachers to change their teaching practice to address inequity. Further, this study demonstrates how teachers can empower themselves to study equity patterns in their own classrooms.

Authors

• Julie Christensen, Michigan State University

• Nickolaus A Ortiz, Michigan State University

• David Stroupe, Michigan State University

• Sunghwan Byun, North Carolina State University

• Ai-Khanh Nguyen, University of Washington - Seattle

• Niral Shah, University of Washington