Conference Proceedings Detail Page
Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization
Physics is a degree that supports many career paths, and students often develop preferences for particular methods, such as theoretical, computational or experimental. However, it is not well understood how those preferences develop and affect students' later career decisions. We used Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as the basis for interpreting students' decision-making processes. SCCT provides a framework for connecting learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations with students' interests, goals, and decisions. Semi-structured interviews with 8 physics students were conducted. This analysis focuses primarily on a single student to provide space to explore all three method specializations (theory, computation, and experiment) in more depth. We find that the availability of resources and learning opportunities had a significant impact on students' career choices. Theoretical and computational experiences were readily available through classwork, undergraduate research, and could be worked on at home and in peer study groups. Students lacked the ability to work on experimental physics outside of infrequent classroom opportunities and could not build peer networks that supported their experimental skill growth, which was linked to lower interest and self-efficacy in regards to experimental physics.
Physics Education Research Conference 2021
Part of the PER Conference series Virtual Conference: August 4-5, 2021 Pages 87-92
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!
Record Link
<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=15730">Cardona, P, D. Zohrabi Alaee, and B. Zwickl. "Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2021, Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021.</a>
AIP Format
P. Cardona, D. Zohrabi Alaee, and B. Zwickl, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2021, Virtual Conference, 2021, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Cardona, D. Zohrabi Alaee, and B. Zwickl, Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2021, Virtual Conference, 2021, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464>.
APA Format
Cardona, P., Zohrabi Alaee, D., & Zwickl, B. (2021, August 4-5). Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2021, Virtual Conference. Retrieved November 4, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464
Chicago Format
Cardona, P, D. Zohrabi Alaee, and B. Zwickl. "Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2021, Virtual Conference, August 4-5, 2021. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464 (accessed 4 November 2024).
MLA Format
Cardona, Pedro, Dina Zohrabi Alaee, and Benjamin Zwickl. "Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization." Physics Education Research Conference 2021. Virtual Conference: 2021. 87-92 of PER Conference. 4 Nov. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{
Author = "Pedro Cardona and Dina Zohrabi Alaee and Benjamin Zwickl",
Title = {Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2021},
Pages = {87-92},
Address = {Virtual Conference},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {August 4-5},
Year = {2021}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Pedro Cardona %A Dina Zohrabi Alaee %A Benjamin Zwickl %T Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization %S PER Conference %D August 4-5 2021 %P 87-92 %C Virtual Conference %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2021 %O August 4-5 %O application/pdf
EndNote Export Format
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Cardona, Pedro %A Zohrabi Alaee, Dina %A Zwickl, Benjamin %D August 4-5 2021 %T Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization %B Physics Education Research Conference 2021 %C Virtual Conference %P 87-92 %S PER Conference %8 August 4-5 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=15730&DocID=5464 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual. The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles. The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References. The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation. The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ. Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization:Know of another related resource? Login to relate this resource to it. |
ContributeRelated MaterialsSimilar Materials |