This research focuses on the experiences of seven undergraduate women who were majoring in physics in a medium-size physics department at a small liberal arts college. In the semistructured, empathetic interviews we conducted, the women discussed how they decided to major in physics, their interactions with their peers and instructors, and who…

We add to a growing literature suggesting that demographic grade gaps should be attributed to biases embedded in the courses themselves. Changes in the structure of two different introductory physics classes were made while leaving the topics covered and the level of coverage unchanged. First, a class where conceptual issues were studied before…

Collaborative two-stage exams provide an effective mechanism to incorporate group work into summative course assessments. We implemented these exams in an upper-level biology laboratory course over two terms, one with online exams and one with in-person exams. We compared student exam performance and perceptions of two-stage exams and group work…

Physics education research is replete with observations and proposed explanations for gender disparities in physics. In this work, we operationalize a definition for equity as everyone has access to the learning environment and everyone's voice is heard (adapted from previous definitions). We review prior research that observed inequities in…

What and how instructors assess understandably impacts student learning and performance in undergraduate science courses. However, there is limited research on the ways in which assessment practices might be altered to combat inequitable outcomes in these settings. Here we characterize the nature of assessment questions in one second-semester…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are tools used to introduce students to authentic participation in science. Several specific CUREs have been shown to benefit students' interest and retention in the biological sciences. Nevertheless, CUREs vary greatly in terms of their context, methodology, and degree of research…

In spring 2020, the California State University System and its 23 campuses became the first in the United States to commit to a year of remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote instruction separated the system's librarians from their users, whose needs were especially great within the system's ethnically, economically, and…

In this study, we investigated female and male students' sense of belonging and their academic performance measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and course grades in a calculus-based introductory physics course at a large public university in the United States. We find that compared to male students, female students' sense of belonging was…

Laboratory courses can serve as important avenues to equitably support introductory biology students to develop foundational scientific literacy skills while experiencing the authentic research process. We present a model for an equity-focused redesign of an introductory organismal biology laboratory course at a teaching institution with limited…

Multilingual learners face significant challenges when navigating the linguistic complexities of chemistry assessments. This study, employing the Equitable Framework for Classroom Assessment, identified these specific challenging features in general chemistry assessment items on the topics of limiting reactant and percent yield. Through in-depth,…

Many students experience a language-related barrier which may keep them from fully understanding and engaging in complex chemistry content. Although dense and technically rich scientific language is challenging for most students to interpret, it can become a systematic barrier for English Language Learner (ELL) students when it cognitively…

The next generations of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers are being trained in college and university classrooms by a workforce of instructors who learn pedagogical practice largely on the job. While inclusive instructional practices and their impacts are increasingly well-studied, this training is difficult to instill…

Prior research has indicated that students in the undergraduate physics lab divide work inequitably with regard to gender. In this work, we further probed women's experiences in lab group work, focusing on women who take on managerial and leadership roles in the lab. We interviewed and surveyed women enrolled in a sophomore-level project-based lab…

Informal physics programs bring physicists together with youth and adults from local communities to engage with physics content outside of classroom settings. These public engagement or "physics outreach" programs are a significant endeavor of the physics community; however, we lack a systemic documentation of these efforts, which makes…

The manuscripts in this dissertation enhance the research on the psychology of the undergraduate student experience in laboratory courses, those that typify collaborative practical work. For science and engineering fields in higher education, persistence of students who identify as female and/or as a member of an underrepresented ethnic minority…