Forging identity and community in physics: Evaluation and dissemination of Compass

马里兰大学和伯克利分校的研究人员正在研究指南针计划的实施情况，以确定它在多大程度上以及如何提高物理专业学生的留存率，特别是女性和代表性不足的学生。Compass包括为期两周的暑期体验、秋季和春季后续课程、系列讲座和导师计划，所有这些都侧重于建立社区，激发学生对物理的兴趣，并通过让学生参与研究来培养他们的学科认同感和思维方式。该项目包括专注于保留物理学的定量研究，特别是关注女性和代表性不足的少数族裔学生，以及定性研究，调查Compass的工作原理，通过帮助学生建立社会和智力标准定义的物理社区成员的身份。Compass最初由伯克利分校的研究生开发，并获得了美国物理学会2012年本科教育改进奖。这项研究探索了物理教育中最紧迫的问题之一的可能解决方案，即令人不安和持续存在的少数女性和代表不足的少数民族在物理专业中的问题。通过对课堂视频和临床访谈的分析，这项研究不仅有可能揭示这些项目是否提高了所有群体和代表性不足群体的留存率，还可能揭示它们是如何发挥作用(或不起作用)的。它不仅评估了留住物理学中代表性不足的学生的前景模式的有效性，可能适用于其他STEM学科，还评估了一种传播战略，即一所机构的项目的参与者/领导者帮助开发或维持与另一所大学的研究生或教员类似的项目。不管怎样，物理系通常会为一年级和二年级的研究生提供经济支持，因此，通过资助一名或多名研究生领导类似于指南针的项目，利用这些学生的经验和专业知识，可能是一种强有力的传播方式。

Researchers at the University of Maryland and Berkeley are studying the implementation of the Compass program to determine to what extent and how it increases retention of physics majors, especially women and under-represented students. Compass includes a two-week summer experience, follow-up fall and spring courses, a lecture series and a mentorship program all focused on building community, stoking students' interest in physics, and developing students' disciplinary identities and ways of thinking, partly by involving them in research. The project entails quantitative research focusing on retention in physics, especially looking at women and underrepresented minority students, and qualitative research investigating the idea that Compass works by helping students forge an identity as a member of a physics community, defined by both social and intellectual norms.Compass was originally developed by Berkeley graduate students, and won the American Physical Society's 2012 Award for Improving Undergraduate Education. This research probes a possible solution to one of the most pressing problems in physics education, that of disturbingly and persistently small numbers of women and underrepresented minorities among physics majors. The research has the potential to shed light not only about whether these programs increase retention for all groups and for underrepresented groups, but also about how they work (or not), via analysis of classroom video and clinical interviews. It evaluates not only the effectiveness of a promising model for retaining underrepresented students in physics, possibly applicable to other STEM disciplines, but also a dissemination strategy wherein a participant/leader in a program at one institution helps to develop or sustain a similar program as a graduate student or faculty member at another university. Since physics departments often financially support their 1st- and 2nd-year graduate students anyway, leveraging those students' experiences and expertise by funding one or more graduate students to lead Compass-like programs may be a powerful way to disseminate.