Connolly, J;
(2022)
The Impact of Physics Anxiety on Personal and Collective Agency in the Physics Classroom.
In:
Fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world (Proceedings of ESERA 2021).
(pp. pp. 147-155).
ESERA: Braga, Portugal.
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Abstract
School students’ attitudes towards physics have been well documented and it is commonly perceived that female students’ attitudes towards physics are less positive than those of male students. This has been found in studies researching a range of factors including interest, identity, subject choice, self-beliefs and participation. Physics anxiety is a phenomenon that can be described as students having negative emotional dispositions towards activities in physics lessons, and physics lessons themselves beyond test anxiety. Using Bandura’s social cognitive theory, one of the antecedents of self-efficacy, emotional arousal, which relates to levels of anxiety, significant statistical differences were found between the anxiety levels of female students and their male peers in physics lessons. Observations of physics lessons and subsequent qualitative interviews with students confirmed that female students tended to minimise their participation in physics lessons due to concerns about obstructing the learning of others if they proffered incorrect answers in lessons or did not understand a concept. High attaining female students highlighted that physics was not a subject for them confirming widely held stereotype that physics is viewed as more of a male pursuit.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Impact of Physics Anxiety on Personal and Collective Agency in the Physics Classroom |
| Event: | The 14th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA 2021) |
| ISBN-13: | 978-972-8952-82-2 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://www.esera.org/esera-2021/ |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Physics, Self-Efficacy, Gender Issues |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10128381 |
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