Improving Student Understanding of Electrostatics and Investigating Inequities in Physics Learning Environments 

 Supporting students at all levels in and out of the classroom is an important goal for physicseducation. The first theme in this thesis focuses on student difficulties with conductors and insulators and theeffectiveness of a guided inquiry-based tutorial that uses research on student difficulties as a guide to improvestudent understanding in an algebra-based introductory physics course at a large research university. Studentdifficulties were investigated by administering written surveys to students and conducting individual interviewswith students. The tutorial acts as a scaffolding tool and provides students opportunities to strengthen theirunderstanding of these concepts. The effectiveness of the tutorial was measured using a post-test which was alsodeveloped as a part of the research. The next theme broadens the scope to consider students in four introductoryphysics courses for science and engineering majors (Physics 174/175) and bio-science and health-related majors(Physics 110/111) to determine the characteristics of students who repeat introductory physics to get insight intopossible ways to help them. This study was conducted using data spanning 13 years at a predominantly White,large research institution. The last theme focuses on investigations employing a qualitative approach tounderstand inequities in physics learning environments using traditionally marginalized students’ experiences inphysics and astronomy college programs. To understand the experiences of women in undergraduate andgraduate physics and astronomy programs, we conducted semi-structured empathetic interviews. The first studywas conducted with graduate women of color in physics at a predominantly White, large research institution andutilized Critical Race Theory as a guiding framework. The second set of interviews with undergraduate womenat a predominantly White, large research institution, utilizes Standpoint Theory as our guiding framework. Thethird set of interviews with undergraduate women was conducted at a predominantly White small liberal artscollege and we utilized Standpoint Theory and the Holistic Ecosystem for Learning Physics in an EquitableEnvironment (HELPIEE) framework to not only analyze the interview data, but also to make a comparison withother prior studies. Lastly, we present a comparative case study of the physics cultures in three departments,including the second and third set of interviews and a study conducted by Angela Johnson.