Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Investigating How Neurodivergent Students Experience Undergraduate Physics

Neurodivergent students are considered to be students whose ways of thinking, sensing, and behaving may be different from what is considered “typical.” Physics is a field which primarily deals with solving problems related to data to understand the world around us, and recent research suggests that neurodivergent students may navigate physics learning differently than their neurotypical (non-neurodivergent) peers. Additionally, current approaches to undergraduate physics instruction may make neurodivergent students feel excluded and leave the field. This project aims to investigate how neurodivergent students experience undergraduate physics learning by interviewing them as they solve physics problems and share their experiences. The project has the potential to discover insights that support educators in making physics classrooms more inclusive of neurodivergent students, as well as developing products and theory about neurodivergent students experience in undergraduate physics learning. The research objectives of this study are to 1) conduct a comprehensive literature review of neurodivergent STEM learning, 2) collect narratives and experiences of neurodivergent undergraduate physics students, and 3) develop a theory of neurodivergent physics performance. To conduct a comprehensive literature review, publications related to neurodivergent learning and performance in higher education will be collected, synthesized, and critiqued. To collect narratives of neurodivergent physics students, the researchers will conduct semi-structured interviews with undergraduate neurodivergent physics students and translate findings into narratives. To develop a theory of neurodivergent physics performance, the researchers will also engage neurodivergent students in think-aloud interviews, in which they will be asked to solve introductory, undergraduate physics problems and share their thought processes. The researchers aim to code interviews, leverage multiple relevant conceptual frameworks, and use grounded theory method to generate new theory about how neurodivergent students navigate undergraduate physics. Results from this study, will be disseminated through developed workshops and seminars to support educators and physics departments in understanding and serving neurodivergent learners. This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.