Factors That Influence Students in Choosing Physics Programmes at University Level: The Case of Greece

Autor/inn/en	Meli, Kalliopi; Lavidas, Konstantinos; Koliopoulos, Dimitrios
Titel	Factors That Influence Students in Choosing Physics Programmes at University Level: The Case of Greece
Quelle	In: Research in Science Education, 50 (2020) 3, S.1075-1091 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Meli, Kalliopi)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0157-244X
DOI	10.1007/s11165-018-9723-x
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Undergraduate Students; Physics; Course Selection (Students); Majors (Students); High School Students; Student Motivation; Careers; Informal Education; Greece + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Physik; Course selection; Student; Students; Kurswahl; High school; High schools; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Schulische Motivation; Career; Karriere; Informelle Bildung; Nichtformale Bildung; Griechenland
Abstract	Low enrolment in undergraduate level physics programmes has drawn the attention of the relevant disciplines, education policy-makers, and researchers worldwide. Many reports released during the previous decades attempt to identify the factors that attract young people to study science, but only few of them focus explicitly on physics. In Greece, in contrast to many other countries, physics departments are overflowing with young students. However, there are two categories of students: those for whom physics was the optimal choice of a programme ("choosers") and those for whom physics was an alternative choice that they had to settle for. We suggest that the latter category be called "nearly-choosers," in order to be differentiated from choosers as well as from "non-choosers," namely those candidates that did not apply to a physics programme at all. We are interested in the factors that attract high school students to study physics and the differences (if any) between choosers and nearly-choosers. A newly formed questionnaire was distributed within a Greek physics department (University of Patras), and the students' responses (n = 105) were analysed with exploratory factor analysis and specifically principal component analysis so as to extract broad factors. Three broad factors have arisen: school-based, career, and informal learning. The first two factors proved to be motivating for pursuing a degree in physics, while the third factor appeared to have a rather indifferent association. "t" tests and Pearson correlations indicated mild differentiations between choosers and nearly-choosers that pertain to school-based influences and informal learning. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01