Neuroqueering Physics Literacy

TL;DR

This paper advocates for redefining scientific literacy from a neuroqueer perspective to better accommodate neurodivergent physicists, highlighting the importance of inclusive assessment and teaching practices.

Contribution

It introduces a neuroqueer framework for scientific literacy and presents a case study of neurodivergent physicists to illustrate the need for inclusive educational paradigms.

Findings

Neurodivergent physicists experience science differently.

Current scientific literacy assessments are neurotypical-centric.

Redefining literacy can improve inclusivity and understanding.

Abstract

Neurodivergent people experience the world, conceptualize scientific concepts, and engage with meaning-making differently than their neurotypical peers. When these differences are actualized in an institutional setting, such as higher education, conflict can arise which has a disabling effect on them. One such way this conflict can arise is through defining and subsequent assessment of scientific literacy, as we define scientific literacy through a neurotypical lens. There is much literature on how to better teach neurodivergent students to succeed in a neurotypical-normative scientific environment, however very little research exists which examines what neurodivergent differences in learning look like from these students' perspectives. I here present a case study of five neurodivergent physicists as a part of a broader study on neurodiversity in physics, explaining why it is imperative to redefine scientific literacy and reorient it to a neuroqueer standpoint.