Students' beliefs about the extent to which meaningful others, including their peers, recognize them as a strong science student are correlated with their persistence in science courses and careers. Yet, prior work has found a gender bias in peer recognition, in which student nominations of strong peers disproportionately favor men over women, in…

Inequity is persistent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms despite significant attention to upending it. In order to better understand how and why inequity persists, an analysis is presented of 27 self-identified white male physics faculty and graduate students responding to an interview prompt about the social…

[This paper is part of the "Focused Collection on Instructional Labs: Improving Traditions and New Directions."] Recent studies provide evidence that social constructivist pedagogical methods such as active learning, interactive engagement, and inquiry-based learning, while pedagogically more effective, can enable inequities in the…

The multiple-choice section of the final examination for the first-year Advanced Physics I course at the University of Newcastle, Australia between 2010 and 2018 was investigated for gender bias. A Mantel-Haenszel analysis revealed that approximately 20% of the multiple-choice questions exhibited statistically significant gender bias. A schema for…

Previous work has identified that recognition from others is an important predictor of students' participation, persistence, and career intentions in physics. However, research has also found a gender bias in peer recognition in which student nominations of strong peers in their physics course disproportionately favor men over women. In this…

Creating equitable learning environments has been an area of significant focus for physics education researchers in recent years. Here we introduce a framework that posits that grade penalty is a measure of academic self-concept and investigate if there are gender differences in grade penalties in physics courses for students majoring in physics.…

This research focuses on the absence of women among academic staff in physics. To explore the causes of this gender imbalance, we focus on the decision-making junction between obtaining a Ph.D. diploma and pursuing a postdoctoral position. We use the mixed-methods paradigm, combining a nationwide representative survey of Ph.D. students in Israel…

Students' self-efficacy, interest, and perceived recognition from others in a given field have been shown to be very important for the development of their identity in that field, which is a critical predictor of students' major and career decisions. Prior research suggests that students' self-efficacy and interest play an important role in their…

This research focuses on the experiences of six undergraduate white women who are physics and astronomy majors. Specifically we conducted semistructured, empathetic interviews that reveal how uncomfortable physics environments inside and outside of the classroom, which were often propagated by male instructors and peers, excluded undergraduate…

Societal stereotypes and biases pertaining to who belongs in physics and who can excel in it can impact motivational beliefs of women in physics courses. Prior research has shown that women have lower physics self-efficacy than men in physics courses in which women are underrepresented. However, prior research has generally not investigated…

Gender inequities continue to persist within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, even at the undergraduate level. This has led researchers to further examine potential factors that contribute to retention and persistence of undergraduates in STEM fields. In this study using classroom observations, we examined…

Instructional labs are being transformed to better reflect authentic scientific practice, often by removing aspects of pedagogical structure to support student agency and decision making. We explored how these changes impact men's and women's participation in group work associated with labs through clustering methods on the quantified behavior of…

Societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in physics and who can excel in it can impact the physics beliefs, including their self-efficacy, interest, and identity, e.g., of women in physics courses. Exploring these beliefs longitudinally and analyzing how different beliefs predict students' physics identity are important for developing a…

Gender bias, reduced sense of belonging, and lower physics self-efficacy are among the challenges faced by women who choose to study physics. Prior studies focusing on this underrepresented group have examined the experiences and impacts of formal educational settings, leaving the impact of informal physics programs, frequently called outreach…

Women continue to be underrepresented in physics in the United States. This is while many Muslim majority (MM) countries have a high representation of women in undergraduate and graduate physics programs. While there is a growing awareness of this trend, little is being done to understand why and how this trend has manifested and how it can be…