Education and Diversity News

The STEP UP Movement is Changing the Face of Physics

By Annelise Roti Roti

Physics is missing out. Women are still a minority of our undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. And yet, I’m sure you know a young woman who would be a great physicist. What barriers might she face on her journey? What would it take to keep her on that path? We believe the STEP UP project, a recent effort by APS and its partners, can ensure the success of many women in physics, and our initial results agree. “I used to abhor physics, but then I saw how physics was so great and so amazing and it completely changed my mind,” said Laura, a young woman from a Miami area school who experienced the STEP UP curriculum. This is why the STEP UP movement needs your help to get a specially designed physics curriculum into the hands of thousands of high school teachers. If you know a high school teacher, talk with them. Ask them to join our movement by registering for STEP UP and encourage them to use the lessons in their classrooms.

In 2017, the National Science Foundation recognized the innovative nature of this project and granted $3 million to APS and its partners Florida International University (FIU), Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC), and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). The project’s leaders then spent two years developing and testing research-based classroom strategies and demonstrated that our materials can impact the lives of thousands of women. High school classrooms are vital: although young women make up half of high school physics students, only 20% of those who enter college intending to major in physics are women, and only 20% of those who ultimately graduate with an undergraduate or graduate physics degree are women. Clearly the place and time to act is in high school (see chart). High school teachers are critically important in inspiring young women to pursue physics careers, so the project also made sure that teachers were part of every step of the curriculum development process.

The piloting and experimental phase of our classroom strategies and lesson plans was critical to creating the robust intervention we have now. Researchers and teachers worked together to draft, pilot, and revise the STEP UP materials: 2 lesson plans, a guide to ‘everyday actions’ that teachers can take to shift classroom culture, and suggested guidelines for classroom discussions. These were intentionally designed to help teachers motivate students to continue their studies in physics and illustrate the power of a physics degree. A series of in-person development meetings and pilot testing in classrooms from 2017-2018 led to these initial conclusions:

• STEP UP’s lessons inspire, on average, 2.2 young women per classroom to shift their interest towards pursuing undergraduate physics.
• The lessons enable young women to see themselves as physicists.
• After participating in this intervention, students in the class are positively influenced to pursue physics careers (“Examining physics identity development through two high school interventions,” Cheng et.al, 2018 PERC Proceedings, doi: 10.1119/perc.2018.pr.Cheng).