Conference on Equity for Discipline-Based Education Researchers in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences

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Equal access in discipline-based education research and within institutions of higher education is important for our nation. Recently, STEM discipline-based educational research communities have increased their attention to inequities within their disciplines. This invited conference will be the first of its kind to bring together experts in discipline-based education research from chemistry, mathematics, and physics to discuss equity issues. The conference will include participants from a different disciplines and types of educational institutions to share their insights about equity questions and potential solutions. The conference has three goals. The first is to articulate the most pressing equity-related needs within these fields. The second is to formulate strategies for addressing these needs. The third is to set up collaborations across institutional and disciplinary boundaries to address these issues.This project supports a two-day conference at Rutgers University for about 75 invited participants in May 2019. The conference will include thought-mapping sessions to explore questions including: What is equity in discipline-based education research? What research is being conducted at the intersection of various identities? What are the takeaways from the conference? and What are the next steps to move the ideas further? It will also include poster presentations, keynote speakers, and collaborative group discussions. The conference will produce a conference proceeding that will include the agenda, abstracts and presentations from keynote talks, and abstracts and posters from poster sessions. The PI will also produce a conference report that will include an annotated bibliography of current work on equity in the selected disciplines. This conference could provide a significant starting point for an accelerated discussion of ways to improve equity within the disciplines of mathematics, physics, and chemistry in the United States.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.