Connecting Collaborative Group Work and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Goals in Introductory Science Courses

Project Team

Karen Cummings, Physics and Astronomy

Robert Hill, Physics and Astronomy

Steve Pfisterer, Physics and Astronomy

Project Summary

The aim of this project is to help Waterloo students make better use of existing collaborative group-work opportunities for deep learning and practice building inclusive, equitable groups. To facilitate course improvement, and support a broader EDI effort within our department, we will develop materials that integrate key content from an EDI bystander-intervention workshop with instruction on best-practices in collaborative groupwork.  The result will be plug-and-play materials that are general enough that learned skills and behaviors can be transferred into other environments including teaching labs, research experiences and co-op positions. Instructor materials will be developed to facilitate effective use by others.  We will employ these materials in two courses in Fall 2022 with a reflective practice component.  We will measure student attitudes toward groupwork and reflective practice, as well as self-efficacy and EDI knowledge and climate in the course, all before and after instruction.  Outcomes and correlations will be investigated.

References

  1. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.
  2. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual review of psychology (Vol. 52, pp. 1-26). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
  3. Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Multifaceted impact of self-efficacy beliefs on academic functioning. Child Development, 67(3), 1206-1222.
  4. Cwik, Sonja, and Chandralekha Singh. "Damage caused by societal stereotypes: Women have lower physics self-efficacy controlling for grade even in courses in which they outnumber men." Physical Review Physics Education Research 17.2 (2021): 020138.
  5. Desivilya, Helena Syna, and Dafna Eizen. "Conflict management in work teams: the role of social self‐efficacy and group identification." International Journal of Conflict Management 16.2 (2005): 183-208.
  6. Dou, Remy, et al. "Beyond performance metrics: Examining a decrease in students’ physics self-efficacy through a social networks lens." Physical Review Physics Education Research 12.2 (2016): 020124.
  7. See for example CTE TL Conference 2022 Presentation 202,203. https://uwaterloo.ca/uw-teaching-and-learning-conference/sites/ca.uw-teaching-and-learning-conference/files/uploads/files/26_apr_merged_for_publication_2022_uwtl_conference_program_0.pdf
  8. Henry, M. A., Shorter, S., Charkoudian, L., Heemstra, J. M. & Corwin, L. A. (2019) FAIL Is Not a FourLetter Word: A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Undergraduate Students' Approaches to Academic Challenge and Responses to Failure in STEM Learning Environments, CBE Life Sci Educ. 18, ar11.
  9. Kapur, M. (2015) Learning from productive failure, Learning: Research and Practice. 1, 51-65.
  10. Kost-Smith, L. Elizabeth, University of Colorado, Characterizing, Modeling, and Addressing Gender Disparities in Introductory College Physics, Ph.D. thesis 2011.
  11. Lindstrøm, C. and Sharma, M., Self-Efficacy of First Year University Physics Students: Do Gender and Prior Formal Instruction in Physics Matter?, Int. J. Innov. Sci. Math. Educ. 19 (2), 1 (2011).
  12. Nielson, P. L., Bean, N. W. B. and Larson, R.A.A. The impact of a flipped classroom model of learning on a large undergraduate statistics class. Statistics Education Research Journal, 17(1):121-140, 05 2018.
  13. Nissen, Jayson M., and Jonathan T. Shemwell. "Gender, experience, and self-efficacy in introductory physics." Physical Review Physics Education Research 12.2 (2016): 020105.
  14. Olango, M. Mathematics anxiety factors as predictors of mathematics self-efficacy and achievement among freshman science and engineering students. African Educational Research Journal, 4(3):109-123, 09 2016.
  15. Sawtelle,V, Brewe,E,  and Kramer,L.H., Positive Impacts of Modeling Instruction on Self-Efficacy, in PERC Proceedings (AIP, Melville, NY, 2010), pp. 289–292.
  16. Sawtelle, Vashti, Eric Brewe, and Laird H. Kramer. "Exploring the relationship between self‐efficacy and retention in introductory physics." Journal of research in science teaching 49.9 (2012): 1096-1121.
  17. Simpson, A. & Maltese, A. (2017) “Failure Is a Major Component of Learning Anything”: The Role of Failure in the Development of STEM Professionals, Journal of Science Education and Technology. 26, 223-237.
  18. Students’ experiences of unwanted sexualized behaviours and sexual assault at postsecondary schools in the Canadian provinces, 2019 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00005-eng.htm
  19. See for example: Group Decision Making https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/developing-assignments/group-work/group-decision-making  or Tips for Effective Group Work  https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/metallurgy-materials/about/cases/group-work/tips.aspx
  20. Getting Started in Reflective Practice https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswrp/index.html
Additional Information
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