In intro-to-physics classes containing more women than men, women still feel out of place, implying that more needs to be done to make physics classrooms feel inclusive.

Feature on:
Sonja Cwik and Chandralekha Singh
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 18, 010138 (2022)

Sonja Cwik and Chandralekha Singh
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 18, 010139 (2022)

PRPER Lead Editor, Charles Henderson, and APS Editor in Chief, Michael Thoennessen, discuss the vital importance of offering an inclusive and welcoming environment to the physics community.

Despite improvements in working conditions, harassment and discrimination continue to affect the retention of LGBTQ+ physicists; creating positive workplace climates could help.

Viewpoint on:
Ramón S. Barthelemy et al.
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 18, 010124 (2022)

Saalih Allie is a Professor at the University of Cape Town, where he has held joint positions in the Department of Physics and the Academic Development Programme since 1986. He holds a PhD in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Cape Town and is presently Co-Director of the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) in South Africa.

Physics is an experimental science. Instructional laboratories where students conduct experiments, analyze data, arrive at conclusions, and communicate findings have been around for over a century. Every physics department has labs of different levels: from introductory to advanced, for majors and nonmajors, with real equipment or virtual.

Physics Education Research (PER) uses various research methods classified under qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. These approaches help researchers understand physics education phenomena and advance our efforts to produce better PER. Over time, research questions and contexts have evolved, and so have our methods. We understand it has come the time for PER scholars to examine qualitative methods in our field critically. Therefore, we urge you to contribute to the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER.

This Physical Review Physics Education Research (PRPER) Focused Collection was curated to bring to light curriculum design decisions and the factors that shape them. By making decisions about design explicit, we can better understand the contexts behind our research claims, hold curricula up to informed critique, and support new scholars as they undertake curriculum development.

In the following special collection from Physical Review Physics Education Research, authors examine and highlight racial diversity, specifically how Black physicists and people of color navigate within the physics community at large.