![]() ![]() We interviewed 17 trainee physics teachers about their experiences of learning undergraduate physics, how they perceived the relevance of their physics courses for their future role as teachers, and how this affected their physics learning. The findings aim to be of interest to physics lecturers when examining their own practice. This case study examines how a sample of trainee physics teachers perceive learning undergraduate physics content together with engineering and physics bachelor students in a large, high-status, research-oriented physics department. While concerns have been raised about future physics teachers' understanding of physics content, less work has focussed on the sociocultural experiences of the learning environments trainees meet when learning undergraduate physics. However, research suggests that this is often not the case. ![]() Given the importance of this dual role, one might expect that the training of future physics teachers would be a priority for any physics department. On the one hand, they are charged with contributing to the creation of a scientifically literate society, while on the other they play a pivotal role in the recruitment of future physicists. High school physics teachers have a difficult job to do. ![]() Educators can play a crucial role in this process because it requires expertise in building supportive classrooms, adopting the growth mindset, and fostering cultures of inclusion. This study contributes to the physics education literature by illuminating the complex process of shifting culture toward inclusion, student success, diversity, and belonging. Simultaneously, other participants did not make any observable changes during the research. Several participants indicated that, because they were participating in the study, they made pedagogical changes that they would otherwise not have attempted. The collaboration between an educator and the group of faculty members was highly valued by the study participants, as was the individual, context-based nature of the assistance they were offered. Taken together, the threads and their sub-themes present a roadmap for a cultural change that could lead to increased enrollments and diversity in physics. These threads respectively represented changes that took place within the participants’ own minds, within their classrooms, and across the whole department. ![]() Three common threads were produced in the qualitative analysis: Building Skills and Changing Mindsets, From Teacher Centered to Student Centered, and Building Community. The analysis showed that a spectrum of views were held during the research by the various participants, and some movement away from traditional views and toward progressive ones was observed. The qualitative data was processed using qualitative thematic analysis. Data collection lasted 17 months and included 37 interviews, 345 pages of field notes, and 424 student survey responses. This dissertation is a qualitative, instrumental case study (Stake, 2005) of one university physics department in Canada where a group of concerned faculty members worked with the author to make changes that would benefit students, with the eventual goal to increase enrollments and diversity. Detailed studies of how to shift this traditional culture toward student engagement, success, and inclusion have been missing from the literature (Corbo et al., 2016 Strubbe et al., 2020). Many scholars have indicated that the traditional physics culture is a key barrier that prevents students from pursuing physics degrees (Eran-Jona & Nir, 2020 Hyater-Adams et al., 2019 Seyranian et al., 2018). For example, Laurentian University closed its physics department in 2021, due primarily to low undergraduate enrollments (Schwabe, 2021). Despite decades of research and investment, low enrollments and a lack of diversity in undergraduate physics programs remain problematic (American Institute of Physics, 2020 Merner & Tyler, 2017 Porter & Ivie, 2019). ![]()
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