Declining science enrolment, with the greatest decline in physics, has generated concern surrounding students’ future abilities to function in an increasingly scientific and technology-focused society. In an attempt to understand why students select or reject physics, a multiphase qualitative phenomenological study was designed, with the following questions: (a) Why do students select or reject physics courses? (b) What role does physics identity play in student course selection? (c) What other factors, extrinsic or intrinsic, affect their choices to pursue physics? Questionnaire, interview, focus group and student drawing data indicate students reject physics when it is not required for further studies in university based on their belief that physics is a difficult math-reliant subject, they do not identify with physics, and they are unsure what physics is and what they would study. Recommendations include teaching physics aligned with students’ interests, and teaching physics to promote a positive physics student identity.

Declining science enrolment, with the greatest decline in physics, has generated concern surrounding students’ future abilities to function in an increasingly scientific and technology-focused society. In an attempt to understand why students select or reject physics, a multiphase qualitative phenomenological study was designed, with the following questions: (a) Why do students select or reject physics courses? (b) What role does physics identity play in student course selection? (c) What other factors, extrinsic or intrinsic, affect their choices to pursue physics? Questionnaire, interview, focus group and student drawing data indicate students reject physics when it is not required for further studies in university based on their belief that physics is a difficult math-reliant subject, they do not identify with physics, and they are unsure what physics is and what they would study. Recommendations include teaching physics aligned with students’ interests, and teaching physics to promote a positive physics student identity.

If the goal of teaching introductory physics is to help every student have successful learning experiences, then we need to answer at least two key questions to achieve this goal. First, what instructional strategies will promote equitable success for students? And second, how can we prepare instructors to use these teaching strategies effectively? Prior research demonstrates a persistent gender gap in introductory physics; however, we find that physics identity mediates the impact of gender on both conceptual understanding and retention in physics programs. Therefore, we apply Wenger's framework of identity development in communities of practice to hypothesize that collaborative, community-building instructional strategies can promote equity by enabling women's identification with physics. Through meta-analysis of results from 26 courses, we find trends in three different models of equity that support this hypothesis. To address our second question, we apply a similar community-based model to TA professional development. We find that teaching communities of practice can yield statistically significant improvements in TAs' identification as physics educators and make qualitative changes to TAs' teaching approaches. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-23 13:18:26.328

Persistent gender disparity limits the available contributors to advancing some science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. While higher education can be an influential time-point for ensuring adequate participation, many physics programs across the U.S. have few women in classroom or lab settings. Prior research indicates that these women face considerable barriers. For university students, faculty, and administration to appropriately address these issues, it is important to understand the experiences of women as they navigate male-dominated STEM fields. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study explored undergraduate female physics majors’ experiences with their male-dominated academic and research spaces in the U.S. The conceptual framework consisted of physics identity, gender role congruity, assumptions about the “ideal” scientist, and self-reported plans to persist in the field (measured by bachelor’s degree completion, graduate school plans, and physics-related career plans). Utilizing the American Physical Society (APS) 2016 Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) pre-conference survey data, responses from 900 females were analyzed using regressions followed by 18 semi-structured interviews with CUWiP sample participants. Physics identity was highly predictive of participants’ self-reported persistence plans. A factor analysis revealed that gender role congruity is comprised of three distinct social roles: extrinsic agentic (e.g., power, financial rewards, status), intrinsic agentic (e.g., self-direction, demonstrating skills, independence), and communal (e.g., working with people, helping others). Intrinsic agency was highly correlated with physics identity and long-term persistence (graduate school and career), and communal roles were negatively correlated with students’ short-term persistence (undergraduate physics degree completion). Extrinsic agency was correlated with neither identity nor persistence. The 18 interviews were phenomenographically analyzed revealing that participants experience relationships with the conceptual framework in five qualitatively different ways, called categories of experience. These categories are: The Assured, The Solitary, The Communal, The Reflective, and The Ambassadors. The categories elaborate on the quantitative results by providing nuanced explanations of how women negotiate aspects of their gender identity related to the conceptual framework. The results provide a broad vantage point of women’s experiences as physics majors which may aid university faculty and administration with gender equity goals for physics and other male-dominated STEM fields.