{"id":1632,"date":"2025-04-28T11:55:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/?p=1632"},"modified":"2025-04-28T11:55:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:55:35","slug":"uncovering-the-hidden-forces-in-the-physics-curriculum-student-led-inquiry-into-inclusion-and-representation-by-dr-yetunde-kolajo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/2025\/04\/28\/uncovering-the-hidden-forces-in-the-physics-curriculum-student-led-inquiry-into-inclusion-and-representation-by-dr-yetunde-kolajo\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncovering the Hidden Forces in the Physics Curriculum.     Student-Led Inquiry into Inclusion and Representation By Dr Yetunde Kolajo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As part of the University of Kent\u2019s growing commitment to student success, inclusion, equity, and student empowerment, four Stage 2 undergraduate physics students recently took on a bold and important project: <strong>Decolonising and Diversifying the Curriculum in Undergraduate Physics.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Supervised by <strong>Dr Yetunde Kolajo<\/strong>, Research Associate for Student Success, and in collaboration with <strong>Dr Manuel Marques<\/strong>, module convenor for PHYS5300 (Research Skills in Physics), the student team delivered an impactful research project that tackled longstanding assumptions in physics education.<\/p>\n<p>Their aim? To explore how representation, inclusivity, and curriculum content shape belonging and success in physics and how small but significant changes can make the subject more welcoming to a wider range of learners.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Research conducted as part of PHYS5300 module<\/li>\n<li>Students worked collaboratively across all research phases: planning, research questions, structure, data collection, data analysis, write-ups and presentation<\/li>\n<li>Supervised by Student Success and Physics academic<\/li>\n<li>Final report submitted and presented at the departmental student research conference<\/li>\n<li>Linked directly to the University of Kent\u2019s Access and Participation Plan (APP) and Student Success priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A Living Legacy: EDU-B\u2019s Contribution to the Decolonising Agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>A standout outcome of the EDU-B Team\u2019s work was the <strong>creation of a publicly accessible digital resource<\/strong>:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/diversify-decolonise-physics\/\"><strong>Diversify and Decolonise Physics Webpage<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This page, hosted on the University of Kent&#8217;s research portal, provides a growing resource hub for both <strong>students and academic staff<\/strong> to explore:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The principles of decolonising the physics curriculum<\/li>\n<li>Insightful articles and definitions to support understanding<\/li>\n<li>Case studies and references to <strong>minoritised and BAME physicists<\/strong> who have historically contributed to the discipline<\/li>\n<li>Practical ways educators can embed diverse voices and perspectives into teaching and learning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u201cThis was our way of ensuring the conversation doesn\u2019t end with our project,\u201d<\/em> said one student.<br \/>\n<em>\u201cWe wanted to leave something behind that could keep growing something others could learn from.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The webpage stands as a <strong>living artefact of student-led transformation<\/strong>, contributing to a wider institutional and sector-wide movement toward epistemic justice in STEM.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Stay Connected<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Want to learn more about Student Success work in STEM disciplines, or help with your stage 2 research module?<br \/>\nContact us at <a href=\"mailto:studentsuccess@kent.ac.uk\"><strong>studentsuccess@kent.ac.uk<\/strong><\/a> or explore Kent\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/\">Access and Participation Plan<\/a>.<br \/>\nVisit the Physics student-created resource: <a href=\"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/diversify-decolonise-physics\/\"><strong>Diversify and Decolonise Physics Webpage<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of the University of Kent\u2019s growing commitment to student success, inclusion, equity, and student empowerment, four Stage 2 undergraduate physics students recently took &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/2025\/04\/28\/uncovering-the-hidden-forces-in-the-physics-curriculum-student-led-inquiry-into-inclusion-and-representation-by-dr-yetunde-kolajo\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79050,"featured_media":1633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[112454,275865,1,153673],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1636,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions\/1636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}