S04: Mini-Symposium: Physics Education Research Related to Departmental Culture and Change

Sat. April 6, 1:30 p.m. – 2:06 p.m. PDT

Ballroom A5-6, Floor 2

The Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Initiative has created the EP3 Guide (ep3guide.org), a research-based community-built collection of practices and strategies for physics programs. The research base of the guide builds heavily on the results of physics education research (PER), and creating the guide has shown opportunities to expand our knowledge. Where the PER community originally focused on fostering student learning in the classroom, a growing trend over several decades has been to study systemic issues that help (or hinder) student learning. The EP3 Guide provides direction for these PER studies. As faculty and departments use the EP3 Guide to address challenges, they may seek to, for example, increase enrollments, reform instruction, address problems of culture and climate, and become more equitable and inclusive. Studying the processes by which these changes play out requires careful observation and investigation as well as documentation and dissemination. The results of the research can then modify, extend, and strengthen the guide, allowing it to be a living document that is designed to change over time. Research on departmental change with participants of the Departmental Action Leadership Institutes (DALI) in the EP3 Initiative has made steps in this direction, but many other opportunities exist. This talk will describe the EP3 Guide, provide a brief overview and history of physics education research, and will then provide some examples of how the PER community can use the EP3 Guide to advance its goal of studying teaching and learning within complex academic systems and structures.