TITLE:

Cultivating student success and retention through structures supporting physics identity development

ABSTRACT:

Investigations on the identity development of physics students are critical to student retention in physics. Previous studies have found that students with strong physics identities are more likely to persist in coursework and to choose careers in the physical sciences. In this talk, I will present findings from two identity studies conducted in the physics department at Texas State University (TXST), as well as situate these studies in the broader context of physics education research. These studies were conducted separately but resulted in closely-related findings about the experiences of TXST physics students. Both studies identified supportive structures related to the Physics Learning Assistant (LA) program. The TXST Physics LA Program is structured specifically to create an inclusive community and develop a shared culture of mutual support. Students in LA-supported courses have both higher success rates (lower percentage of students receiving grades of D or F, or withdrawing) and increased content learning. LAs change their ways of learning and of being students as a result of their LA experience, and physics LAs describe positive impacts on their physics identity and sense of belonging to a supportive and collaborative community. While TXST students experience these structures as related to our LA program, many of the supports identified could be implemented in other ways.

BIO:

Dr. Eleanor Close is a Professor of Physics at Texas State University and a physics education researcher. She co-directs the STEM Communities Learning Assistant Program at TXST, co-organizes regional and national workshops through the National Learning Assistant Alliance, and is currently PI of an NSF Noyce Scholarship project. Her research interests include situated learning and identity development through communities of practice, particularly for multiply marginalized students; Learning Assistant program impacts on students, LAs, and faculty; and physics teacher preparation and professional development. She received her Physics M.S. from the University of Washington in 2003 and her Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from Seattle Pacific University in 2009. Between receiving her B.A. in Physics from Bryn Mawr College and starting graduate school, she taught high school physics and physical science for three years in rural North Carolina, where she became science department chair by seniority after five months. In her non-work life, she co-parents three teenagers and gardens with native plants for local wildlife.