Not feeling recognized as a physics person by instructors and teaching assistants is correlated with female students’ lower grades

Cwik, Sonja; Singh, Chandralekha

doi:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.18.010138

Cited by 27 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Some prior research suggests that individuals' course enrollment and performance in STEM can be influenced by their motivational beliefs such as self-efficacy, interest and identity in that domain [1][2][3]5,7,9,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. For students from underrepresented groups, these motivational characteristics might be undermined due to lack of encouragement, negative stereotypes, and inadequate prior preparation, leading to withdrawal from STEM fields [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Hence, investigating students' motivational characteristics is critical to understanding and addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in STEM disciplines.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How inclusiveness of learning environment predicts female and male students� physics grades and motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses

Li¹,

Singh²

2022

2022 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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In this study, we adapted a prior identity framework to investigate how students' perception of the inclusiveness of the learning environment (including sense of belonging, peer interaction and perceived recognition) in an introductory physics course predicts their course grades and physics motivational beliefs (including self-efficacy, interest and identity) at the end of this course. We found signatures of inequitable and non-inclusive learning environment in that female students' mean scores for sense of belonging, peer interaction and perceived recognition were all lower than male students' in the course. In addition, we found that female students had lower average course grades than male students. Using structural equation modeling, we found that students' perception of the inclusiveness of the learning environment predicts their self-efficacy, interest, identity and grades at the end of the course even after controlling for students' gender, motivational beliefs and grades in a previous course as well as their high school GPA and SAT math scores. In particular, students' perceived recognition, e.g., by instructors and teaching assistants, played a major role in predicting students' physics identity, and students' sense of belonging in physics played an important role in explaining the change in students' physics self-efficacy. Our findings can be helpful for creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment in which all students can excel.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How inclusiveness of learning environment predicts female and male students� physics grades and motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses

Li¹,

Singh²

2022

2022 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many research studies have investigated motivational beliefs, such as self-efficacy and identity in different STEM domains, because they can influence students' continuation in STEM courses, majors, and careers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Specifically, in the context of physics, many studies have focused on students in calculus-based courses, in which women are underrepresented [10][11][12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women have lower physics self-efficacy controlling for grade even in courses in which they outnumber men

Cwik¹,

Singh²

2022

2022 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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Self-efficacy has been shown to affect student engagement, learning, and persistence in various science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and majors. Additionally, prior research has shown that women have lower self-efficacy than men in STEM courses in which women are outnumbered by men. This study examines the self-efficacy of men and women with similar performance in two consecutive algebrabased introductory physics courses in which women make up two thirds of the students. These were mandatory courses at a large public university in the US taken primarily by bioscience majors, many of whom are interested in health professions. Our findings show a gender gap in self-efficacy disadvantaging women when controlling for course grades in both physics 1 and physics 2 both at the beginning and end of the course. Additionally, we find that most of the gender gap in self-efficacy is due to biased perceptions rather than performance in the courses.

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“…To look at exactly that problem, Sonja Cwik and Chandralekha Singh of the University of Pittsburgh Even when they make up the majority, women are more likely than men to feel out of place in a physics classroom. Credit: kasto/stock.adobe.com surveyed students in two mandatory introductory physics courses for bioscience majors, where around two-thirds of the participants were women [1,2]. They found the same outcome-the women were more likely to feel that they didn't belong in the room and that the instructor didn't think that they should be there.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping Women in Physics is More Than a Numbers Game

Wright¹

2022

Physics

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Not feeling recognized as a physics person by instructors and teaching assistants is correlated with female students’ lower grades

Cited by 27 publications

References 48 publications

How inclusiveness of learning environment predicts female and male students� physics grades and motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses

How inclusiveness of learning environment predicts female and male students� physics grades and motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses

Women have lower physics self-efficacy controlling for grade even in courses in which they outnumber men

Keeping Women in Physics is More Than a Numbers Game

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