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Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory
As students pursue a bachelor's degree in physics, they may ponder over which area to specialize in, such as theory, computation, or experiment. Often students develop preferences and dislikes, but it's unclear when this preference solidifies during their undergraduate experiences. To get a better understanding, we interviewed eighteen physics majors who were at different stages of their degree regarding their interest in theory, computation, and experimental methods. Out of the eighteen students, we chose to analyze only nine students who rated computation and theory the lowest. Our analysis did not include interest in experiment because the ratings were less negative. We used Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and Lucidchart to analyze students' responses and create individual graphical representations of the influences for each student. Through this, we uncovered how various factors such as learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations influenced their low interest in a particular method. We found that lack of knowledge and experience is often the main reason why self-efficacy was lower. Students' lack of interest is also influenced by negative outcome expectations (e.g, math-intensive and a bad work-life balance) more than other SCCT factors. Our findings could help physics departments and educators identify positive and negative factors that could lead to a more motivating and inclusive physics curriculum.
Physics Education Research Conference 2023
Part of the PER Conference series Sacramento, CA: July 19-20, 2023 Pages 409-414
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![]() <a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=16618">Zohrabi Alaee, D, K. Tonry, and B. Zwickl. "Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2023, Sacramento, CA, July 19-20, 2023.</a>
![]() D. Zohrabi Alaee, K. Tonry, and B. Zwickl, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2023, Sacramento, CA, 2023, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798).
![]() D. Zohrabi Alaee, K. Tonry, and B. Zwickl, Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2023, Sacramento, CA, 2023, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798>.
![]() Zohrabi Alaee, D., Tonry, K., & Zwickl, B. (2023, July 19-20). Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2023, Sacramento, CA. Retrieved June 16, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798
![]() Zohrabi Alaee, D, K. Tonry, and B. Zwickl. "Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2023, Sacramento, CA, July 19-20, 2023. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798 (accessed 16 June 2025).
![]() Zohrabi Alaee, Dina, Keegan Shea Tonry, and Benjamin Zwickl. "Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory." Physics Education Research Conference 2023. Sacramento, CA: 2023. 409-414 of PER Conference. 16 June 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Dina Zohrabi Alaee and Keegan Shea Tonry and Benjamin Zwickl",
Title = {Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2023},
Pages = {409-414},
Address = {Sacramento, CA},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {July 19-20},
Year = {2023}
}
![]() %A Dina Zohrabi Alaee %A Keegan Shea Tonry %A Benjamin Zwickl %T Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory %S PER Conference %D July 19-20 2023 %P 409-414 %C Sacramento, CA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2023 %O July 19-20 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Zohrabi Alaee, Dina %A Tonry, Keegan Shea %A Zwickl, Benjamin %D July 19-20 2023 %T Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory %B Physics Education Research Conference 2023 %C Sacramento, CA %P 409-414 %S PER Conference %8 July 19-20 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=16618&DocID=5798 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.
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