Diverse suggestions for improving physics teaching

The photograph in figure 1 of “Psychological insights for improved physics teaching” by Lauren Aguilar, Greg Walton, and Carl Wieman (Physics Today, May 2014, page 43 ) showed a physics lecture with an audience that appeared to be almost all white males. The caption suggested that most readers might not see what a woman or member of a minority group would see in that audience. I can attest to what one female high school student saw in a strikingly similar situation.

About 20 years ago, I was conducting an on-reservation summer program for Native American students, which ended with a class visit to an off-reservation college. The engineering school had offered a tour, which the dean conducted himself. He showed us an engineering lab with about a dozen people working diligently, mentioned the investment in equipment that allowed such research, and asked if there were any questions.

One of the female students in my class raised her hand and asked, “Why aren’t there any women in there?” Her question brought the dean up short, but he handled it honestly, confessing that she had seen something important that he had not and that he was embarrassed and chagrined. So the question “Is there anyone like me here?” in the photo’s caption certainly does get asked.