Impact of perceived recognition by physics instructors on women’s self-efficacy and interest

Students’ self-efficacy, interest, and perceived recognition from others in a given field have been shown to be very important for the development of their identity in that field, which is a critical predictor of students’ major and career decisions. Prior research suggests that students’ self-efficacy and interest play an important role in their engagement, performance, and persistence in STEM fields. However, very little has been investigated about the role of perceived recognition and validation by instructors on students’ self-efficacy and interest. Moreover, prior quantitative studies show that women often report a lower level of physics-perceived recognition, self-efficacy, and interest. In this study, we analyzed data from individual interviews with 38 female students to investigate their learning experiences in physics courses to obtain a qualitative understanding of the factors that shape their self-efficacy and interest. The results reveal that many interviewed women experienced negative perceived recognition or lack of positive recognition from their physics instructors or teaching assistants (TAs), which fell into three categories: feeling belittled for questions or efforts, feeling negatively recognized regarding abilities and potential, and feeling marginalized due to differential gender dynamics. In contrast, only a few interviewed women reported positive perceived recognition from instructors or TAs, which included recognition of abilities, encouragement to pursue goals, and acknowledgment of the normality of struggles. We find that positive perceived recognition enhanced students’ self-efficacy and interest, while negative perceived recognition or lack of positive recognition undermined them. These findings provide valuable insights for physics educators to improve their interactions with students by providing positive recognition and validation. Our research also suggests that it is important for instructors or TAs to internalize that it is not their intentions that matter but the impact they are having on their students.