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Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender
written by Robynne M. Lock, Zahra Hazari, and Geoff Potvin
Although nearly half of high school physics students are female, only 21% of physics bachelor's degrees are earned by women. Using data from a national survey of college students in introductory English courses (on science-related experiences, particularly in high school), we examine the influence of students' physics and math identities on their choice to pursue a physics career. Males have higher math and physics identities than females in all three dimensions of our identity framework. These dimensions include: performance/competence (perceptions of ability to perform/understand), recognition (perception of recognition by others), and interest (desire to learn more). A regression model predicting students' intentions to pursue physics careers shows, as expected, that males are significantly more likely to choose physics than females. Surprisingly, however, when physics and math identity are included in the model, females are shown to be equally likely to choose physics careers as compared to males.
Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series
Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012
Volume 1513, Pages 262-265
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Societal Issues
= Gender Issues
- Student Characteristics
Education Practices
- Careers
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Researchers
- application/pdf
- non-digital
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4789702
Access Rights:
Free access and
Available for purchase
A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2012 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
DOI:
10.1063/1.4789702
NSF Number:
1036617
PACSs:
01.30.Cc
01.40.Fk
01.85.+f
89.65.Ef
Keywords:
Epistemology, PERC 2012, career choice, gender, identity, math, survey
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created June 27, 2013 by Zachary Davis
Record Updated:
June 1, 2015 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
January 24, 2013
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Record Link
AIP Format
R. Lock, Z. Hazari, and G. Potvin, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362).
AJP/PRST-PER
R. Lock, Z. Hazari, and G. Potvin, Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362>.
APA Format
Lock, R., Hazari, Z., & Potvin, G. (2012, August 1-2). Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362
Chicago Format
Lock, R, Z. Hazari, and G. Potvin. "Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362 (accessed 29 March 2024).
MLA Format
Lock, Robynne, Zahra Hazari, and Geoff Potvin. "Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 262-265 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 29 Mar. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Robynne Lock and Zahra Hazari and Geoff Potvin", Title = {Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012}, Pages = {262-265}, Address = {Philadelphia, PA}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1513}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2012} }
Refer Export Format

%A Robynne Lock %A Zahra Hazari %A Geoff Potvin %T Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 262-265 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Lock, Robynne %A Hazari, Zahra %A Potvin, Geoff %D August 1-2 2012 %T Physics Career Intentions: The Effect of Physics Identity, Math Identity, and Gender %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 262-265 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12829&DocID=3362


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