The context dependence of physics identity: Examining the role of performance/competence, recognition, interest, and sense of belonging for lower and upper female physics undergraduates

Abstract

While there is a growing body of work that examines disciplinary identity development, unlike qualitative work in this area, quantitative research has not fully incorporated the importance of different contexts, nor has it uniquely focused on underrepresented groups (in this case, women in physics). This study examines how the constructs posited by prior work as important for physics identity, as well as an additional theorized construct, may interrelate and affect female students' physics identity differently depending on the context. Context in this study refers to two different experiential levels in college. The constructs examined include performance/competence, recognition, and interest, as well as sense of belonging. In particular, we used structural equation modeling to examine the effect that these constructs have on the physics identity of two groups of female physics undergraduates: first year students and senior year students. The results reveal that the relationship of the theorized constructs with physics identity vary between the two groups as well as compared to prior research with broad college student populations (not just physics majors). Unlike broad college student populations, for our sample of female physics undergraduates, interest did not have a direct effect on physics identity while sense of belonging was significant only for senior year students. These results exemplify the importance of examining context or different types of student experiences when studying disciplinary identity development rather than generalizing previous frameworks to all contexts.

Examining the effect of early STEM experiences as a form of STEM capital and identity capital on STEM identity: A gender study

“…Hazari et al (2010), added another dimension, interest, to this model when studying physics students. The capability to expand and modify Carlone and Johnson's model to different contexts/ domains confirmed the flexibility of the model (Hazari et al, 2020). For example, other studies have examined mathematics identity (Cribbs et al, 2015), computing identity (Mahadeo et al, 2020), and STEM identity (Dou et al, 2019).…”

Equity-Oriented Conceptual Framework for K-12 STEM literacy

“…Limited research has been conducted on integrated STEM identity development, especially in K-12 settings. Identity as a concept does not have a uniformly accepted definition in discipline specific literature (e.g., Hazari et al, 2020;Martin, 2000). Gee (2000) attempted to operationalize identity with an emphasis on a "kind of person" from four different perspectives.…”

“…The literature does offer several insights into what comprises identity. Broadly, we operationalize identity development as being intersectional (Capobianco et al, 2012;Carlone & Johnson, 2007;English-Clarke et al, 2012;Hazari et al, 2020;Martin, 2012;Zavala, 2014), being influenced by the community, parents, and peers (Berry III, 2008;Brown et al, 2005;Carlone & Johnson, 2007;Martin, 2000), and being related to seeing the utility and application of the subject matter (Capobianco et al, 2012;Martin, 2000).…”

“Anybody can do science if they're brave enough”: Understanding the role of science capital in science majors' identity trajectories into and through postsecondary science

“…However, what is valued as science capital varies across fields, and is influenced by the doxa of each field. Here we emphasize that the doxa of scientific fields are institution and program specific, and may differ across experiential levels (e.g., Hazari et al, 2020). What is valued as science capital in physics, for example, may be different than the capital which is valued in biochemistry.…”