Exploring students’ attitudes towards physics and their association with gender

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse gender differences in the attitudes towards physics in the framework of the Semiotic Cultural Psychological Theory (SCPT). According to this theoretical perspective, attitudes represent how individuals interpret their experience, through the mediation of generalized meaning with which they are identified. A view-of-physics questionnaire was used as instrument to collect data with 1562 (723 females) high school students. Using multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis, we identified four generalized meanings of physics: (a) interesting and important for society; (b) a quite interesting, but badly taught subject at school and not completely useful for society; (c) difficult to study and irrelevant for society; and (d) a fascinating and protective niche from society. The association between gender and the identified cluster was assessed by a chi-square test, which indicates a significant overlap between females and cluster (c).