Conference Proceedings and Presentations
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PublicationSocietal Educational Debts Due to Racism and Sexism in Calculus-based Electricity and Magnetism Courses(American Association of Physics Teachers, 2021)The American Physical Society calls on its members to improve the diversity of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and Black, Indigenous, and people of color to become physicists. Introductory physics courses provide opportunities for recruiting and retaining diverse students or enacting policies and cultural practices that disproportionately harm students from minoritized groups. Introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism courses have received far less attention from researchers than introductory mechanics courses. To better understand the role introductory electricity and magnetism courses play in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersecting relationships between racism and sexism in inequities in student conceptual knowledge using a quantitative critical framework. The analyses used Bayesian hierarchical linear models to examine students' conceptual knowledge as measured by the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism. The data came from the LASSO database and included 3,686 students from 83 calculus-based courses at 16 institutions. The model indicated society owed educational debts in conceptual knowledge due to racism, sexism, or both to Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White Hispanic students and White women. Of these groups, society owed the largest educational debts to Black students. The courses, of which almost all used collaborative instruction (81 of 83) supported by learning assistants (66 of 83), added to the educational debts owed to Black students, maintained the debts owed to Hispanic and White Hispanic students and White women, and mitigated the debts owed to Asian students.
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PublicationBias on the Force Concept Inventory across the intersection of gender and race(American Association of Physics Teachers, 2021-08-04)Education researchers often compare performance across race and gender on research-based assessments of physics knowledge to investigate the impacts of racism and sexism on physics student learning. These investigations' claims rely on research-based assessments providing reliable, unbiased measures of student knowledge across social identity groups. We used classical test theory and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis to examine whether the items on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) provided unbiased data across social identifiers for race, gender, and their intersections. The data was accessed through the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes platform and included responses from 4,848 students posttests in 152 calculus-based introductory physics courses from 16 institutions. The results indicated that the majority of items (22) on the FCI were biased towards a group. These results point to the need for instrument validation to account for item bias and the identification or development of fair research-based assessments.
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PublicationTesting the effectiveness of an interactive 3D dog brain application in the veterinary neuroanatomy classroom.( 2018-05)Learning neuroanatomy in a veterinary setting can be very difficult for a number of reasons. The complex spatial relationships, obscure shapes and boundaries of structures, as well as the clinical imperative to translate two-dimensional diagnostic images, such as MRI or CT, into three-dimensional orientations present key challenges for learning. Past research into the success of computer-assisted and interactive technology-driven methods to teach concepts in medicine has yielded promising results in regard to student performance and retention. However, there is a lack of research on these methods in a veterinary setting, particularly those concerned with neuroanatomy. We have developed an interactive computer application with a comprehensive set of 3D computer models of the dog brain that have been reconstructed based on a set of high-resolution MRI scans. The application will allow students to explore structures in the dog brain. The proposed study will evaluate the effects of introducing the Virtual Dog Brain application as a supplementary learning tool as well as any correlation between use of the application and student performance and positive perception of the new technology.
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PublicationGenomic Insights into the Origins of the Sycamore Fig in the Mediterranean Basin( 2018-05)The sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus) has been a culturally important tree in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean dating back to the ancient Egyptians. Because modern trees in this region lack their specialized pollinator and do not produce seed, we hypothesize that they comprise only one to a few clones propagated asexually from cuttings originating thousands of years ago in sub-Saharan Africa. Genotype by Sequencing (GBS) of 46 sycamore fig samples from north of the Sahara revealed them to represent five distinct clonal lineages. Although clones tend to have restricted geographic distributions, trees from Cyprus trace their origins to northern Egypt, Lebanon, and a third unknown source location. These results support the hypothesis that F. sycomorus north of the Sahara is entirely asexual and traces its clonal ancestry to a small number of cuttings originating in sub-Saharan Africa.
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PublicationPlace Making Through Poetic Water Colors( 2018-05)My project will focus on understanding the desirable qualities of places and gaining awareness about the conditions that produce them. Ultimately I would create visual narratives to express affective qualities of man-made environment through watercolors. I will study the structure of chinquain and tanka, two forms of five line poetry, and create poems to succinctly get to some of the essential qualities found in the built environments. Overall, the project will study space and how its design may affect the user, expressed through the use of eight paintings and poems.