The Access Network: Cultivating Equity and Student Leadership in STEM

Quan, Gina M.; Gutmann, Brianne; Corbo, Joel C.; Pollard, Benjamin; Turpen, Chandra

doi:10.1119/perc.2019.pr.quan

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…The Access Network is an organization that supports vibrant interactions between students and faculty working toward increasing equity in the physical sciences [1,6]. The network's primary goals are to support equity within the sciences, create meaningful opportunities for students to lead equity efforts, and work toward a physical science culture where equity and justice are foregrounded.…”

Section: The Access Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There exist numerous efforts to improve equity in the physical sciences. These efforts have been initiated and led by people occupying many roles (e.g., students, faculty, staff, administrators) with many goals in mind (e.g., increase retention, improve culture, reduce structural bias) (e.g., [1][2][3][4][5]). In the context of efforts led by undergraduate and graduate students interested in cultivating supportive communities, we know little about how student leaders come to engage in equity work, the challenges they encounter, and the resources they draw on.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Access Network is an organization that supports physical science students in leading equity efforts within their local university departments [1,6]. Students in Access take on leadership roles not only locally, but also within the national network, shaping the organization's activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Students’ exploring and refining their equity ethic within the Access Network

Amezcua¹,

Quan²,

Turpen³

2020

2020 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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The Access Network is an organization that supports vibrant interactions among students and faculty who advocate for equity work in the physical sciences. This paper uses McGee and Bentley's framework of "equity ethic" (EE) to understand how Access student leaders adopt and refine a commitment to equity and social justice work within the physical sciences. In McGee and Bentley's study of STEM students of color, they define EE as students' sense of altruism and collectivism within and outside of their communities. Through interviews with student leaders, we model components of students' EEs and how their EEs are influenced by their participation in Access. Student accounts illustrate that they are invested in improving equity within their disciplinary communities and see progress toward these goals as an important measure of success. Our findings highlight how students are already infusing an EE into their professional physics activities. This research suggests that student leaders benefit from having opportunities to articulate and refine critiques of disciplinary culture, and connect their EE to their professional practices. These accounts suggest that this work occurs in conversation with other equity leaders around issues of social justice.

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Section: The Access Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Students’ exploring and refining their equity ethic within the Access Network

Amezcua¹,

Quan²,

Turpen³

2020

2020 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Their approach combines the Learning Assistant model [17] with Emdin's idea of co-generative dialogues [9], or structured exchanges between teachers and small groups of students to help bridge cultural divides and identify better instructional approaches for those students. Similarly, Quan et al [18] have been engaging URM students as partners in designing supports for undergraduate STEM students through the Access Network initiative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of a student-led astronomy club: lessons to inform instructional design

Barringer¹,

Olmstead²,

Maldonado³

2020

2019 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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There are currently few education research footholds to help instructors build on the strengths and interests of physical science majors when teaching astronomy courses. In this paper, we describe what we learned from interviews with members of the Astronomy Club at Texas State University. We conducted and analyzed interviews with eight students that focused on their interest in astronomy and participation in astronomy-related activities at Texas State. We focus on Club activities and how students benefit from their participation in those activities to identify what is culturally relevant to our student body. We find that students experience enjoyment, feel a sense of community, and develop professional skills through their participation in the Astronomy Club. We describe how this work was motivated by and ties in to a larger pedagogical framework of culturally relevant instruction, and consider how these results can inform the design of astrophysics courses.

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“…There has been increasing interest in understanding how undergraduate and graduate student facilitation of these programs supports the development of a physics and STEM identity, enhances retention and persistence, and supports a feeling of community [1,2,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. The results of this paper add to the growing understanding of how informal physics programs provide a platform for broader interactions between an individual student and the STEM community and equip university students with the skills needed for the 21st century careers [33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating a Physicist: The Impact of Informal Programs on University Student Development

Rethman,

Perry,

Donaldson

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Physics outreach programs provide a critical context for informal experiences that promote the transition from new student to contributing physicist. Prior studies have suggested a positive link between participation in informal physics outreach programs and the development of a student's physics identity and self-efficacy [1,2]. In this study, we adopt a student-focused investigation to explore the effects of outreach programs on dimensions of physics identity, sense of community, 21st century skill development, and motivation. We employed a mixed methods study combining a survey instrument (117 responses) and interviews (35) with current and former undergraduate and graduate students who participated in five outreach programs through a physics and astronomy department at a large land-grant university. To examine interviews, we employed a framework based on situated learning theory and the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity. Our findings show that students who facilitated physics outreach programs positively developed their physics identity, experienced increased sense of belonging to the physics community, and developed 21st century career skills. Specifically, students reported positive benefits to their communication, teamwork and networking, and design skills. The benefits of these outreach programs can be achieved by departments of any size without significant commitment of funds or changes to curriculum.

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The Access Network: Cultivating Equity and Student Leadership in STEM

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

Students’ exploring and refining their equity ethic within the Access Network

Students’ exploring and refining their equity ethic within the Access Network

Benefits of a student-led astronomy club: lessons to inform instructional design

Creating a Physicist: The Impact of Informal Programs on University Student Development

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