A survey of psychological, motivational, family and perceptions of physics education factors that explain 15 year-old students’ aspirations to study post-compulsory physics in English schools

This paper investigates the factors that influence 15-year-old students’ intentions to study physics post-16, when it is no longer compulsory. The analysis is based on the year 10 (age, 15 years) responses of 5,034 students from 137 England schools as learners of physics during the academic year 2008–2009. Factor analyses uncovered a range of physics-specific constructs, 7 of which were statistically significantly associated with intention to study physics post-16 in our final multi-level model; in descending order of effect size, these are extrinsic material gain motivation, intrinsic value of physics, home support for achievement in physics, emotional response to physics lessons, perceptions of physics lessons, physics self-concept and advice-pressure to study physics. A further analysis using individual items from the survey rather than constructs (aggregates of items) supported the finding that extrinsic motivation in physics was the most important factor associated with intended participation. In addition, this item-level analysis indicated that, within the advice-pressure to study physics construct, the encouragement individual students receive from their teachers is the key factor that encourages them to intend to continue with physics post-16

Inequality in experiences of physics education : Secondary school girls’ and boys’ perceptions of their physics education and intentions to continue with physics after the age of sixteen

This paper explores the factors that are associated in England with 15 year-old students’ intentions to study physics post-16, when it is no longer compulsory. Survey responses were collated from 5034 year 10 students as learners of physics during the academic year 2008-09 from 137 England secondary schools. Our analysis uses individual items from the survey rather than constructs (aggregates of items) to explore what it is about physics teachers, physics lessons and physics itself that is most correlated with intended participation in physics post-16. Our findings indicate that extrinsic material gain motivation in physics was the most important factor associated with intended participation. In addition, an item-level analysis helped to uncover issues around gender inequality in physics educational experiences which were masked by the use of construct-based analyses. Girls’ perceptions of their physics teachers were similar to those of boys on many fronts. However, despite the encouragement individual students receive from their teachers being a key factor associated with aspirations to continue with physics, girls were statistically significantly less likely to receive such encouragement. We also found that girls had less positive experiences of their physics lessons and physics education than did boys

The Development of an ‘Attitudes to Science and Religion’ Instrument for Secondary School Students: How Are the Attitudes of Students to Science and Religion Associated with Student Religion and Other Characteristics?

This article uses data from students in England to pilot and validate an ‘Attitudes to Science and Religion’ instrument which explores secondary school students’ perceptions of the relationship between science and religion, as well as their attitudes towards science and towards religion. This instrument was developed in part from previous studies and is intended for educators and researchers for both pedagogical and research purposes. The post-pilot questionnaire was then used with 1102 Year 9/10 students from 18 schools in England to answer two research questions: (1) Is there a relationship between students’ attitudes towards science and their perceptions as to whether science and religion are compatible? (2) What are the characteristics of students who report that science and religion are compatible? Students who reported that science and religion were compatible had more positive perceptions of science and of their ability in science, were more likely to have future aspirations in science and showed more positive attitudes towards science education. There was no statistically significant difference between Christian and Muslim students in their responses about the compatibility of science and religion, nor about whether evolution and creationism should be taught in the science classroom. Muslim students were as positive as were Christian students about their science education and the benefits of science; however, they were less positive about the role of science in explaining the world. Students who reported science and religion as being compatible were more likely to hold religious beliefs than a belief in scientism. Implications of this research are that there ought to be a place for discussion about the relationship between science and religion within school lessons and that high quality discussion is likely to be fostered by developing students’ critical thinking skills

Factors that lead to positive or negative stress in secondary school teachers of mathematics and science

This paper explores the factors that contribute to the development of positive stress and distress in teachers within secondary schools in England. It draws on narrative interviews undertaken with twelve mathematics and science teachers in six schools and focuses on three of these teachers to explore issues in more depth. The findings demonstrate that the use by teachers of appropriate coping mechanisms, e.g. actively seeking out preferable alternatives, and access to professional and personal support, with the right frame of mind, namely, seeing stressors as capable of being overcome, can produce desirable consequences for the teachers through their use of stress in a positive, healthy manner and lessen the likelihood of negative long-term effects associated with distress

Teaching science interdisciplinarily – the BRaSSS approach

Recently, there have been a number of moves to encourage the development of approaches to science teaching that emphasise its links with other curriculum subjects. This article describes the rationale of one such project for 11- to 16-year-olds: the Broadening Secondary School Science (BRaSSS) project. We situate the project in the history of interdisciplinarity in science education, explain the principles that underpin the project and describe the extensive materials that have been produced and are now freely available for others to use

Undergraduates talk about their choice to study physics at university: what was key to their participation?

Background. The research on which this paper is based was commissioned because of concerns about perceived shortages of willing and able young people choosing to study physics at university. Purpose. This paper reports on first year physics undergraduates’ narratives of why they are studying physics and uses these narratives to identify reasons why for their choice. Sources of evidence. Narrative-style interviewing with a purposive sample of first year undergraduates yielded data that revealed complexities around decision making, including choice of university course. Analysis of the texts was informed by psychoanalytic notions rooted in the work of Sigmund Freud. These psychoanalytic notions were used both in generating the interview data – the undergraduate volunteer interviewees were conceptualised as ‘defended subjects’ – and in analysing these interviews in order to conjecture how unconscious forces might figure in young peoples’ ‘decision making’. Main argument. After analysing the interviews with physics undergraduates, with respect to the question ‘why are they reading physics?’ the claim is that identification with a key adult is an important element in an individual’s participation. On the other hand, we discerned no evidence that experience of the sorts of innovations typically designed to increase physics uptake – for example ‘fun projects’ or competitions – had been key with respect to a desire to read physics. Conclusions. Attempts to recruit more students to university to study physics should note that a young person who identifies with a significant adult associated with physics, typically a teacher or family member, is in a good position to take on the belief that physics is a subject that is worth studying

Calibration of self-evaluations of mathematical ability for students in England aged 13 and 15, and their intentions to study non-compulsory mathematics after age 16.

Mathematics self-evaluation (the calibration of mathematics task confidence against ability) was longitudinally explored through 2490 students from England. Students with accurate task calibration at Year 10 (age 15) reported the highest intentions to study mathematics in Years 12 and 13 (when mathematics is not compulsory), and also generally gave the highest self-reports for further mathematics self-beliefs and attitudes including task-level enjoyment, ease, and interest, and subject-level self-concept. Earlier at Year 8, no differences in intentions were found; over-confident students generally gave the highest self-reports at Year 8, while under-confident students generally gave the lowest self-reports. Gender differences also emerged: girls showed no differences in self-beliefs of ability across calibration groups at Year 10, while accurate boys reported the highest self-beliefs

Qualified, but not choosing STEM at university: unconscious influences on choice of study

This paper offers explanations as to why good candidates for mathematics or physics degrees might opt to study subjects other than STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects at university. Results come from analysis, informed by psychoanalytic theory and practice, of narrative-style interviews conducted with first-year undergraduates and from survey data. It is argued that psychoanalytic interpretations have a role in educational research. Also, it is shown that unconscious forces influenced young peoples’ decision making. Implications for policy are discussed, in particular, the issues of (1) the role of commitment and (2) of being good enough to study a STEM discipline

Implications of under-confidence and over-confidence in mathematics at secondary school

Confidence is theorised to be motivational and beneficial within education, although it remains unclear how calibration bias (the extent of under-confidence to over-confidence) might arise and what the implications may be. In order to gain new insights, a longitudinal sample of 3203 secondary school students in Germany was considered at Grade 5 and Grade 9. Predictive modelling explored what factors predicted calibration bias, and whether/how calibration bias predicted other outcomes. The results offered many new insights including that, at Grade 9, calibration bias (i.e. higher over-confidence) negatively predicted mathematics grades but positively predicted mathematics self-concept (subject-level confidence), school self-concept (general educational confidence), and self-esteem (an indicator of well-being), accounting for students’ background characteristics and an array of other predictors