Speaker
Description
Inspired by the Underrepresentation Curriculum’s February 2021 Unconference, a nationwide group of about 10 physics teachers created an offshoot initiative to “decolonize” high school physics curricula. The idea was this: responsive teaching strategies and conversations about underrepresentation are imperative but still take place within the structures of traditional classrooms. We call ourselves the Decolonizing Physics Group, although a fully decolonized field of physics is an aspiration and not necessarily a realistic destination. Our goals are (a) to explore how “physics” came to be defined the way it is, (b) to find alternative definitions and curricula, (c) to learn about physics’ global history (which we were not taught as students), (d) to develop frameworks for decentering white, male Europe from the content we teach, and (e) to actually teach and revise lessons that we develop together. Physics is better (better innovations, better service to humanity) when our courses are consciously built on a global narrative. This talk will share some of the structures and struggles of doing this fraught work in a national collaboration with no single leader, vision, or framework guiding us on our journey. The work is hard and it’s messy, and it’s utterly necessary.
