Do female and male students’ physics motivational beliefs change in a two-semester introductory physics course sequence?

We investigated students’ physics motivational beliefs including their physics self-efficacy, interest, perceived recognition, and identity in a traditionally taught two-semester college calculus-based introductory physics sequence (referred to as physics 1 and physics 2). We studied whether and how these motivational beliefs evolve in this course sequence in terms of the average scores and the predictive relationships among them. The results show that both female and male students’ physics self-efficacy and interest decreased from physics 1 to physics 2, while there was no statistically significant change in students’ perceived recognition and identity. We found signatures of an inequitable and noninclusive learning environment in that not only was there a gender difference in students’ motivational beliefs disadvantaging women, but the gender difference in perceived recognition increased from physics 1 to physics 2. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the predictive relationships among students’ motivational beliefs in physics 1 and physics 2. Analysis revealed that perceived recognition from others, e.g., instructors and teaching assistants, was the largest predictor of physics identity in both courses, and the role played by perceived recognition was even more important in physics 2 for predicting identity and mediating the gender difference in self-efficacy. Our findings suggest that perceived recognition is very important for the development of students’ physics identity in both physics 1 and 2. However, female students feel less recognized in the current learning environment and this gender difference grows from physics 1 to physics 2. Instructors should be trained to create an equitable and inclusive learning environment, in which all students feel recognized and supported appropriately and develop a stronger physics self-efficacy, interest, and identity.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the path analysis part of the SEM models that shows how the relationship between gender and physics identity is mediated by perceived recognition (recog), self-efficacy (SE), and interest. (a) In model 1, all the three predictors are correlated with each other. (b) In model 2, perceived recognition predicts self-efficacy and interest, and self-efficacy predicts interest. The direct path from gender to identity is not shown because it is not statistically significant in both models for both courses.

Figure 2

Results of the path analysis part of SEM model 1, in which there are only covariances between each pair of constructs: perceived recognition (recog), self-efficacy (SE) and interest. (a) Shows the results of using physics 1 data, and (b) shows the results for physics 2 data. The dashed lines represent residual covariances between constructs. The solid lines represent regression paths, and the numbers on the lines are standardized regression coefficients ($\beta$ values), which represent the strength of the regression relations. Each regression line thickness qualitatively corresponds to the magnitude of the $\beta$ value. All $\beta$ values shown are significant with $p<0.001$.

Figure 3

Results of the path analysis part of SEM model 2, in which perceived recognition (Recog) predicts self-efficacy (SE) and interest, and self-efficacy predicts interest. (a) Shows the results of using physics 1 data, and (b) shows the results for physics 2 data. The solid lines represent regression paths, and the numbers on the lines are standardized regression coefficients ($\beta$ values), which represent the strength of the regression relations. Each regression line thickness qualitatively corresponds to the magnitude of the $\beta$ with $0.001\le p<0.01$ indicated by **, $0.01\le p<0.05$ indicated by *, and $p\ge 0.05$ indicated by ns (not significant). All the other regression lines show relations with $p<0.001$.