Philip M Sadler
· ProfessorVerifiedHarvard University · Astronomy
Active 1972–2026
About
Philip M Sadler is the F.W. Wright Senior Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. His research interests include celestial navigation, developing graduate students' teaching skills, the STEM career pipeline, success in pre-college and introductory college STEM coursework, assessment and test construction, and the enhancement of the skills of teachers of science. He is also the Director of the Science Education Department, focusing on science education and outreach. His work emphasizes improving science education at various levels and supporting the development of effective teaching practices in STEM fields.
Research topics
- Sociology
- Computer Science
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Social psychology
- Mathematics
- Combinatorics
- Gender studies
- Multimedia
- Medical education
- Mathematics education
- Chemistry
- Medicine
Selected publications
Journal of Chemical Education · 2026-03-05
articleOpen accessOrganic chemistry is a cornerstone of higher education in the sciences, preparing students for careers in fields such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medicine. Despite its importance, the structure and pedagogy of organic chemistry instruction have remained largely unchanged for decades. Students frequently rely on rote memorization and often view the course as overwhelmingly difficult. While research on organic chemistry instruction has increased in recent years, little attention has been given to the role of foundational knowledge developed in middle and high school or its connection to students’ self-efficacy in college-level chemistry. Self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability to succeed, has been widely recognized as a key factor in student achievement, yet the relationship between misconceptions in foundational chemistry and self-efficacy remains underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between university students’ chemistry misconceptions and their organic chemistry self-efficacy during the first semester of the course. Using validated instruments aligned with NGSS-aligned foundational chemistry concepts and established self-efficacy scales, students were surveyed on their conceptual understanding, confidence, and demographic background. Results revealed a significant negative correlation: students with more misconceptions reported lower self-efficacy. Additionally, students retaking organic chemistry were more likely to exhibit misconceptions at the start of the course. These findings suggest that addressing common misconceptions early in the semester could support the development of student self-efficacy and improve course outcomes. Organic chemistry instructors may benefit from integrating explicit instruction on foundational chemistry concepts to reduce barriers to student success.
Do Single‐Sex STEM Programs Have Merit? If So, for Whom, on What Measures?
Science Education · 2026-03-27
articleOpen accessSenior authorABSTRACT Single‐sex STEM programs—defined here as voluntary, gender‐segregated extracurricular or supplemental activities (e.g., summer camps, workshops, robotics clubs, internships, or citizen science initiatives)—have experienced heightened popularity and scrutiny amid efforts to increase diversity in STEM fields. Empirical evidence regarding their efficacy has been inconsistent. Using a nationally representative dataset of 15,725 US undergraduates, we employed rigorous Propensity Score Weighting (PSW) to estimate the effects of attending single‐sex STEM programs during high school on STEM affinity outcomes (i.e., STEM interest, identity, and career intentions). Our findings demonstrated that attending single‐sex STEM programs was associated with a closing of gender gaps. After PSW adjustment, the interaction between being female and attending a single‐sex program was strongly positive for STEM interest ( β = 0.465, p < 0.001), STEM identity ( β = 0.496, p < 0.001), and, most notably, STEM career intentions ( β = 1.778, p < 0.001; odds ratio = 5.92). Sensitivity analysis showed these effects were highly robust to unmeasured confounding ( E ‐values up to 6.03). Conversely, boys attending all‐boys programs exhibited significantly lower STEM affinity in all three outcomes, compared with boys in coed programs or girls in single‐sex programs. Overall, single‐sex STEM programs provided substantial gains for girls while having mixed‐to‐negative implications for boys. We suggest expanding access to all‐girls STEM programs and critically investigating the pedagogical features driving these differential effects.
Behavioral Sciences · 2025-01-21 · 7 citations
articleOpen accessResearch shows that family conversations about STEM topics positively influence children’s STEM identity development. This study expands on these findings by exploring how family conversations beyond STEM content contribute to this development. Specifically, we focus on how non-academic forms of family support—as described by students who face systemic racial discrimination in STEM—shape these conversations. In this way, we extend existing work by exploring the extent to which families’ dispositions to talk about a wide range of topics—not just in STEM—might further support youth identification with STEM fields. Using Family Communication Patterns Theory (FCPT) to guide our analysis, we examined data from a survey of first-year college students (n = 1134) attending Minority-Serving Institutions and public universities in the United States. The survey asked students to reflect on their childhood conversations and their current sense of identity in STEM. Using structural equation modeling, we found that family disposition to engage in conversations about a broad range of topics was linked to more frequent STEM-related conversations during childhood and, in turn, greater identification as a “STEM person” in college. These findings highlight the complex ways that family communication patterns can support construction of an individual’s sense of themselves as a STEM person in later years. By interpreting these findings using FCPT, we highlight the nature of family communication patterns that can contribute to STEM identity formation.
International Journal of STEM Education · 2025-10-15 · 8 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorThe urgent need for a stronger STEM workforce to keep the United States competitive globally has propelled policymakers and researchers to mandate for more STEM education. Although extant evidence suggests that students benefit from both formal in-school and informal out-of-school time STEM learning, there is a dearth of research examining the extent to which in-school preparation and out-of-school time activities in STEM cooperate in shaping students’ career interest and STEM identity during the high school years. We leveraged a national U.S. representative sample (N = 10,303) to examine the joint impact of in-school and out-of-school time experiences in shaping students’ STEM career interest at the end of high school and their STEM identity, respectively. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the direct and indirect effects—via in-school and out-of-school time activities—of prior STEM interest on STEM career interest and STEM identity. Results suggested that, consistent with extant research, prior interest was a robust predictor of both outcomes and that both in-school and out-of-school time activities were significant mediators. We also conducted multiple group analyses to assess whether the mediating mechanisms depended on gender, race/ethnicity, and rural status. We found that, relative to total indirect effects, in-school preparation had a stronger effect on students’ STEM career interest than on their STEM identity, while out-of-school time activities had a stronger effect on STEM identity than on STEM career interest. This was true, regardless of gender and race/ethnicity, but different patterns emerged across rural and non-rural students. The burgeoning of out-of-school time programs and initiatives, along with attention to STEM identity, led to a differentiation of the STEM education system between in-school and out-of-school time education that we saw manifested in the whole sample as well as across gender and race/ethnicity. This calls for a new synthesis—creating a coordinated synergy between out-of-school time activities and in-school preparation—that promises a leap forward for STEM education as a whole.
Computer Science Education · 2025-03-07 · 1 citations
articleJournal of Diversity in Higher Education · 2025-06-05 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorACM Transactions on Computing Education · 2025-09-30
articleBackground and context: Although out-of-school time (OST) computer science (CS) experiences during the high school years have been considered an efficacious means to cultivate students’ career interest in CS, there has been a paucity of rigorous research on the topic. Objective: Examine the effects of a wide variety of OST activities on students’ career interest in CS. Method: We carried out a retrospective cohort study, collecting data from a nationally representative sample of 6,044 U.S. first year university students. From 27 survey items about OST CS-related activities during high school, we first selected a list of top-ranking influential variables through machine learning. Then, a multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between these top-ranking variables and students’ career interests at the end of high school. Findings: The analysis showed that high school aged students’ participation in unstructured CS-related activities (e.g., talking about CS with family or friends ); structured CS-related activities (e.g., CS-related summer camps or programs ); along with the opportunities that students experienced during OST CS programs/activities (e.g., designing their own CS projects ) boosted interest in a CS career vis-à-vis careers in other-STEM or non-STEM fields. It also showed that engaging in some activities (e.g., using social media ) was associated with a decreased likelihood of intending a CS career, compared to a career in other-STEM or non-STEM fields. An interaction effect between having a prior career interest in CS and creating blogs/podcasts/video was also observed. Implications: First large-scale analysis of CS OST related activities on CS career interest.
PLoS ONE · 2025-11-07
articleOpen accessSenior authorCorrespondingThe creation of a large and diverse STEM workforce is a national imperative in the U.S. Despite significant efforts to improve equitable STEM educational and hiring practices, disparate employment in STEM fields across racial and ethnic demographics persists. Educational researchers and practitioners have increasingly focused on out-of-school time STEM programs as a potential avenue for boosting high school students' interest in pursuing STEM careers. However, many studies on the efficacy of such programs rely on data from single programs with small sample sizes. The present work uses our nationally representative sample of 14,176 U.S. college students to investigate the relationship between out-of-school time STEM program attendance and students' reported STEM career interests. Our analysis shows that students who, during their high school years, attended an out-of-school time STEM program designed specifically for underrepresented minority students had 2.4 times the odds of reporting an interest in a STEM career at the end of high school, compared to those who did not attend any out-of-school time STEM program [Formula: see text]. By contrast, students who attended a general population STEM program (not specifically designed for underrepresented minority students) had only 1.3 times the odds of expressing an interest in a STEM career at the end of high school, compared to those who did not attend any out-of-school time STEM program [Formula: see text]. Additionally, those who attended an underrepresented minority STEM program had 1.9 times the odds of aspiring to a STEM career, compared to those who attended a general population program [Formula: see text]. This is the first study to use nationally representative data to compare underrepresented minority focused and general out-of-school time STEM programs. Given these promising results, this work encourages further development and funding of out-of-school time STEM programs designed for underrepresented minorities to foster a diverse and equitable STEM workforce.
Reliability and validity of a single-item computer science identity instrument
Education and Information Technologies · 2024-02-14 · 4 citations
articleWho takes stats in US high schools? Backgrounds, interests, & aspirations
2024-01-01
articleOpen accessSenior authorStatistics skills are increasingly required for a wide range of careers, and Statistics courses and degrees have exploded in popularity in recent years. We estimate that 920,000 US students are now taking Statistics classes in high school each year. We present results from a nationally representative survey of 15,727 college first-years attending two- and four-year institutions, of whom 26% had taken Statistics while in high school. We are the first to describe in detail this population of US high school Statistics course-takers, and present data about the demographics, career interests and values, STEM identity, grades, and test scores of those who took Statistics in high school. Latent profile analysis is used to characterize the profiles of key subgroups, illustrating the diverse skills, interests, and values of this population.
Recent grants
IERI: Factors Influencing College Science Success (FICSS)
NSF · $3.0M · 2001–2007
NIH · $900k · 2012
NSF · $2.8M · 2013–2019
NSF · $1.9M · 2009–2013
Professional Development Models and Outcomes for Science Teachers (PDMOST)
NSF · $2.1M · 2014–2019
Frequent coauthors
- 149 shared
Gerhard Sonnert
Harvard University Press
- 44 shared
Zahra Hazari
Florida International University
- 40 shared
Robert H. Tai
- 33 shared
Chen Chen
University of Hong Kong
- 18 shared
Geoff Potvin
Florida International University
- 17 shared
Harold P. Coyle
Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian
- 15 shared
Susan Sunbury
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
- 13 shared
M. Dussault
Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian
Labs
Education
- 1989
Ph.D., Astronomy
Harvard University
- 1985
M.S., Astronomy
Harvard University
- 1982
B.S., Physics
Harvard University
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Philip M Sadler
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup