Not Feeling Recognized as a Physics Person by Instructors and Teaching Assistants Is Correlated with Female Students' Lower Grades

Autor/inn/en	Cwik, Sonja; Singh, Chandralekha
Titel	Not Feeling Recognized as a Physics Person by Instructors and Teaching Assistants Is Correlated with Female Students' Lower Grades
Quelle	In: Physical Review Physics Education Research, 18 (2022) 1, Artikel 010138 (8 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Cwik, Sonja) ORCID (Singh, Chandralekha)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Schlagwörter	College Students; Females; Physics; Science Instruction; Self Concept; Group Membership; Self Esteem; College Faculty; Teaching Assistants; Social Cognition; Low Achievement; Identification (Psychology); Gender Differences; Grade Point Average; College Entrance Examinations + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Collegestudent; Weibliches Geschlecht; Physik; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Selbstkonzept; Gruppenzugehörigkeit; Self-esteem; Selbstaufmerksamkeit; Fakultät; Soziale Kognition; Unterdurchschnittliche Leistung; Geschlechterkonflikt; Aufnahmeprüfung
Abstract	Student motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses can influence their course outcomes as well as their retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines and future career aspirations. Prior research has shown that students' perceived recognition by others as a physics person is important in predicting their physics identity and career choices. This study used validated survey data from 827 students in the first of two college algebra-based introductory physics courses primarily taken by bioscience majors, in which women make up approximately 67% of the class. We investigated how the students' perceived recognition by instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) as a physics person predicts their grade at the end of a mandatory physics course for bioscience majors in which women are not outnumbered by men. We found that overall women had lower perceived recognition than men as a physics person and their perceived recognition played an important role in predicting course grades controlling for high school GPA and math SAT scores. Since physics as a discipline presents a barrier to women due to deep-rooted societal stereotypes and biases about who can excel in it, the numerical representation of women alone in these courses does not imply that they will feel recognized by their instructors and TAs as a physics person without an intentional effort to make the learning environment equitable and inclusive. These findings suggest that physics instructors and TAs should focus on changing the culture in their physics classes and create an equitable and inclusive learning environment in which students from traditionally marginalized demographic groups, e.g., women, feel recognized, and can excel. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Physical Society. One Physics Ellipse 4th Floor, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Tel: 301-209-3200; Fax: 301-209-0865; e-mail: assocpub@aps.org; Web site: http://prst-per.aps.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01