Despite increasing demands for skilled workers within the technological domain, there is still a deficit in the number of graduates in computing fields (computer science, information technology, and computer engineering). Understanding the factors that contribute to students' motivation and persistence is critical to helping educators,…

Both in physics education and in science education more generally concerns exist that formal K-12 education structures limit and, in some cases, diminish students' interest and agency in these fields. Many stakeholders have turned to informal learning experiences as a means to inspire young people to pursue continual learning in these fields in…

Women continue to be underrepresented in physics in the United States. This is while many Muslim majority (MM) countries have a high representation of women in undergraduate and graduate physics programs. While there is a growing awareness of this trend, little is being done to understand why and how this trend has manifested and how it can be…

This study presents findings on the physics identity development of female students in the German Physics Olympiad who participated in an intervention designed to support their engagement in physics. Enrichment programs such as the Physics Olympiad have been found to positively impact students' engagement and intent to pursue a career in science.…

This article empirically tests a previously developed theoretical framework for mathematics identity based on students' beliefs. The study employs data from more than 9,000 college calculus students across the United States to build a robust structural equation model. While it is generally thought that students' beliefs about their own competence…

In the process of reforming physics education over the last several decades, a tension has developed between engaging students with the content in more conceptually challenging ways and helping them identify with physics so they are personally motivated in their learning. Through comparative case studies of four high school physics teachers, we…

There is a long history of research which confounds the simple interpretation that evaluations in an educational context are purely measures of competency. One such issue is that of gender bias in student evaluations of their teachers. In our prior work, we found that male students underrated female high school teachers in biology and chemistry…

This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence…