Progression in Self-Efficacy, Interest, Identity, Sense of Belonging, Perceived Recognition and Effectiveness of Peer Interaction of Physics Majors and Comparison with Non-Majors and Ph.D. Students

Abstract

The importance of science beliefs such as self-efficacy, interest, identity, sense of belonging, perceived recognition and effectiveness of peer interaction in science education has been increasingly recognized in recent years. Self-efficacy, interest, and identity can be considered students’ internal beliefs, and sense of belonging, perceived recognition and effectiveness of peer interaction relate to students’ perception of the inclusiveness of the instructional environment. Prior studies in physics education regarding these beliefs have focused primarily on introductory physics courses. Here, we use five years of data from a validated survey administered to non-majors (in courses with physics majors) during their first year, physics majors throughout their undergraduate education, and first-year physics Ph.D. students at a large research university in the United States. We find that physics majors in the first year responded to the survey prompts more positively than their non-physics major peers who were in the same introductory courses, with the largest differences in perceived recognition, interest, and physics identity and somewhat smaller differences in self-efficacy, perception of peer interaction, and sense of belonging. Further, the average survey responses of physics majors for each belief remain largely constant over time from their first year of the undergraduate curriculum through the last year and comparable to the Ph.D. students. This suggests that students are adjusting their interpretation of the survey items to match the current level of expertise expected of them in the course in which the survey was administered. One exception occurs in the second year, when peer interaction and sense of belonging reach a minimum. This may be the case because the second year is a particularly difficult time for students as they adjust to classes consisting primarily of physics majors. Moreover, physics identity dips to the lowest value in the fourth year when many students are contemplating continuing in physics beyond their undergraduate years or switching fields. We also find that, consistent with prior studies with introductory students, perceived recognition is the best predictor of physics identity for physics majors throughout their entire physics education, pointing to the importance of instructors making a concerted effort to recognize and affirm their students throughout their education.