Factors Influencing Participation in Mathematics and Physics

• In Event: Informing Policy and Influencing Practice: Messages From Cross-Disciplinary Research on Science and Mathematics Education

Abstract

This paper is based on a project that aims to identify the range of factors and their interactions that influence post-16 (i.e. post-compulsory) participation in mathematics and physics in the UK and to assess their relative importance among different student populations. The project comprises three strands; Strand 1 is concerned with mapping trajectories of engagement and disenchantment through analyses of survey data from students and schools; Strand 2 is an interview study to determine reasons for intentions and participation in these subjects, and Strand 3 explores the reasons for Higher Education choices, analysing the factors that influence subject choices among first year undergraduates.

The theoretical framework for Strands 1 and 2 draws on a distinction between internal and external influences as factors bearing on post-16 participation in mathematics and physics; these include motivation, self-concept and perception of subjects (internal) and cultural factors, family support, and teachers. Strand 3 employs a theoretical frame that includes notions of the unconscious; while a student may well be able to articulate a rationale for their choice of course of study, there are likely to be further reasons for their option of which they may not be fully (or even partially) aware.

Strand 1 included a survey of 11,000 14-15 year-olds in the UK from 140 schools; the survey included items from established psychological constructs alongside validated subject-specific conceptual tasks in mathematics and physics so that possible relationships between performance, confidence and intrinsic and extrinsic factors could be explored in each subject and across the two subjects. Multi-level modelling was used to identify those factors that most explained students' stated intentions to participate in mathematics or physics post-16. Survey data from the 2,500 students from whom we have longitudinal data about their actual participation or non-participation in mathematics and physics post-16 are now being analysed. In Strand 2 we selected 12 schools from the sample to represent a range of characteristics. Interviews were undertaken with 72 students across the sample at ages 15, 16 and 17 years to capture intentions and actual subject choices post-16 for students who had a range of intentions (from Strand 1 data). Data were coded using NVivo and are being analysed according to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In Strand 3 we sought a purposive sample of 50 first year undergraduates to interview about their choice of course using the psychoanalytic concept of unconscious defence mechanisms.

Strand 1 and 2 results indicate that the students’ psychological and motivational characteristics are important predictors of intention to study mathematics and physics independent of the influence of school level factors and child background characteristics. The significance of the study is that students’ motivation is an important predictor of intention to study mathematics, though for physics only extrinsic value is significant. The self-concept in mathematics and physics had independent influences. In Strand 3 analysis of the undergraduates’ narratives suggest that they chose mathematics with a joint or minor subject because of the distinct functions mathematics and their other subject served for their psyche.

Authors

• Shirley Simon, Institute of Education - London

• Tamjid Mujtaba, Institute of Education

• Michael Jonathan Reiss, Institute of Education - London

• Melissa Rodd, Institute of Education