Equitable group work increases physics interest, belief in abilities

Increasing diversity and equity in science requires those very principles be present in undergraduate classrooms. Doucette and Singh examined group work in physics laboratories to determine how splitting tasks impacts student interest and self-efficacy.

After watching and listening as undergraduate students worked in small groups on lab assignments, the authors noticed a difference between mixed gender and same gender groups. Women often ended up with much of the secretarial or managerial work.

“It seemed like the women who ended up in secretarial or managerial roles were missing out on opportunities to engage deeply with physics in a way that might make them more interested in physics as a discipline or might increase their sense that they were capable of learning physics effectively,” said author Danny Doucette.

The researchers designed a survey to ask students if they participated equally in each component of the lab, as well as how interested and confident they felt about physics. Students who contributed equally to each task (i.e., taking notes, setting up the experiment, running the computer, managing the team) reported higher interest levels and increased self-efficacy compared to students who split the group work by task.

“When students are sharing rather than splitting the work, it gives students opportunities to engage in all the different types of thinking and work that make up science. Students from traditionally marginalized groups (like women, in physics) don’t always get those opportunities,” said Doucette.

In the paper, the authors suggest specific ways to design learning experiences where students share, instead of split, the work. They hope other instructors will continue to build on these ideas.

Source: “Share it, don’t split it: Can equitable group work improve student outcomes?,” by Danny Doucette and Chandralekha Singh, The Physics Teacher (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0033824 .