Systemic Change: TEAM-UP and Beyond

Abstract

The AIP TEAM-UP report identifies the structural and systemic causes explaining why African Americans have not experienced the growth in bachelor's degrees in physics the way they have in other fields or as other minority groups have experienced in physics over the past two decades. Solving these problems requires changing not only the way physicists train students, but how they think about training students. Research on change in higher education suggests the need for physicists and astronomers to recognize and question the norms, values, and culture of their fields. The TEAM-UP report, SEA Change, and the new APS-IDEA all seek to stimulate and sustain a cultural transformation in the profession.

Supporting first- and second-order departmental change with the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Guide

“…However, only about half of these respondents indicated that department climate and creating an inclusive learning environment was an issue, suggesting a gap between perceived problems versus the change efforts needed to address systemic and cultural barriers. A written guide has limited ability to address these gaps; the deeper learning and broader stakeholder engagement needed for second-order change cannot be addressed with only first-order methods [11].…”

“…Similarly, [10] critiqued change efforts that focus on individual faculty practices as "overly simplistic" and unable to create widespread sustained change. Separately, [11] summarized the TEAM-UP report's [12] argument that cultural change is necessary to address why the number of physics bachelor's degrees has more than doubled for all federally reported racial and ethnic groups except Black or African Americans (as well as American Indian and Alaskan Natives). Because the physics community needs to grapple with its own culture, value, and norms, using only first-order methods is likely to end in failure [11].…”