Speaker
Description
Understanding student experiences in physics is essential to promote equal access to physics education and careers. Often associated with masculinity, intelligence, and nerdiness, physics faces inequitable participation based on gender, ethnicity, and social background. Identity-related studies have proven helpful in understanding why some students struggle to fit in. However, quantitative studies rarely investigate what physics students do, how they act, that tells others that they have physics identities. This study contributes by using questionnaire data from 430 first-year physics students at six Scandinavian universities to compare how physics students see a student who “fits in” and how they see themselves. Implications for physics education are discussed.
