Advancing Physics Education Where Diversity Resides through Professional Development: Creating the Organization for Physics at Two-Year Colleges (OPTYCs)

American Association Of Physics Teachers, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project will serve the national interest by creating a professional organization for physics educators at two-year colleges. There are over 1,000 two-year colleges in the country that offer physics courses to more than 215,000 students per year, yet there is a scarcity of programs dedicated to discipline-specific professional development for physics educators in a two-year college setting. This project will fill this critical gap by providing sustained support to physics faculty through professional development activities aimed at multiple career levels; leadership development; diversity,equity, and inclusion (DEI) training; and creating a culture of physics education research that includes two-year college faculty and students. The project puts forth a suite of individuals, partners and advisors that bring significant expertise to the development of a national community of practice designed specifically for two-year college faculty. This project ultimately seeks to transform the two-year college physics teaching community by creating a cohesive, inclusive, diverse and future-focused organization that is responsive to the evolving goals of physics educators on a national scale. The overall goal of this project is to fill a void in the physics two-year college community by establishing a collaborative organization that aims to provide professional development opportunities across the country. The project has seven objectives: 1) institutionalize a sustainable community of practice; 2) provide transformative professional development aimed at faculty at all career levels; 3) create mentoring groups for new physics faculty; 4) empower the physics community with new and updated data; 5) instill a culture of physics education research among faculty; 6) define and disseminate best practices in research-based teaching and learning methods; and 7) become a model for other STEM disciplines to create national communities of practice. The project intends to measure efficacy of the interventions using a combination of observations, surveys, interviews, and focus groups to draw conclusions about community building, faculty participation and institutional change. The project plans to assess overall sustainability using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool. With an estimated 50 students per year per instructor, over the course of the five-year grant period the project seeks to positively impact 110,000 students taking physics classes at two-year colleges. Ultimately, the project has the potential to transform the two-year college physics-teaching community through the creation of an integrated community of practice, providing benchmarks for faculty growth, and by increasing student diversity and participation in the STEM workforce. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.