Developing an Innovative Sustainable Science Education Ecosystem: Lessons from Negative Impacts of Inequitable and Non-Inclusive Learning Environments

Societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in science courses and who can excel in them can impact short- and long-term outcomes of students from marginalized groups, e.g., women, including their grades and beliefs about science as well as retention in science disciplines. Therefore, developing a sustainable science education ecosystem requires fostering equitable and inclusive learning environments in which students from all demographic groups have comparable outcomes. Here we describe a study with more than five hundred students in an introductory physics course at a large research university in the US that investigated female and male students’ perceptions of the inclusiveness of the learning environment (including their sense of belonging, perceived recognition by others such as instructors, and perceived effectiveness of peer interaction) and how it predicted their physics course grades, self-efficacy, interest, and identity at the end of the course. We find gender differences in perceptions of the inclusiveness of the learning environment disadvantaging female students and that these perceptions played a major role in explaining student outcomes. These inequitable trends in the context of physics can be useful for contemplating how to develop an innovative sustainable science ecosystem using hands-on and minds-on science and create an equitable and inclusive learning environment to help all students excel in science.