Abstract: The landmark study, “Talking about Leaving STEM” cites the culture in introductory STEM courses and the quality of instruction as major factors that lead not only high-performing students to leave STEM, but also extremely capable students, especially women, low-income students, and historically excluded students of color. In the last two decades, the science of how students learn has progressed. Moreover, disaggregated institutional data have demonstrated that we do not serve all our students equally. These factors, combined with the rising cost of higher education and the reduced investment by state governments has led to the Student Success Movement, which calls on all faculty at research universities to better serve the students who support a significant part of our research mission through their tuition dollars. This lecture will also show disaggregated data from the Physics Department at IU and describe Professor Oakley’s journey—still in progress—toward adopting more inclusive teaching practices. It will also provide examples of several ways in which other departments have addressed these issues, with varying degrees of success.
The College of Arts