Students' beliefs about the extent to which meaningful others, including their peers, recognize them as a strong science student are correlated with their persistence in science courses and careers. Yet, prior work has found a gender bias in peer recognition, in which student nominations of strong peers disproportionately favor men over women, in…

We conducted two studies to investigate the extent to which brief, spaced, mastery practice on skills relevant to introductory physics affects student performance. The first study investigated the effect of practice of "specific" physics skills, each one relevant to only one or a few items on the course exam. This study employed a…

Self-efficacy has emerged as one of the most important noncognitive variables explaining academic behavior. It has been shown to influence students' academic and career decisions as well as their academic performance. Multiple studies have reported differences in self-efficacy between men and women in science, technology, engineering, and…

While many previous studies have indicated that encouraging a growth mindset can improve student learning outcomes, this conclusion's applicability to college-level astronomy classrooms remains poorly understood owing to the variation in students' overall and domain-specific learning attitudes. To address this, we surveyed undergraduate students…

Creating equitable learning environments has been an area of significant focus for physics education researchers in recent years. Here we introduce a framework that posits that grade penalty is a measure of academic self-concept and investigate if there are gender differences in grade penalties in physics courses for students majoring in physics.…

This study investigates the evolution and associations between exam grades and social comparison concern (SCC) among students in an introductory calculus-based physics course. We begin with a descriptive characterization of midterm and final exam scores as well as pre-post SCC scores, including the concurrent evolution of these scores during the…

In previous work we analyzed databases for 95 classes to show that the percent grade scale was correlated with a much higher student fail rate than the 4.0 grade scale. This paper builds on this work and investigates equity gaps occurring under both scales. By employing a "course deficit model" we attribute the responsibility for closing…

Machine learning models were constructed to predict student performance in an introductory mechanics class at a large land-grant university in the United States using data from 2061 students. Students were classified as either being at risk of failing the course (earning a D or F) or not at risk (earning an A, B, or C). The models focused on…

Students' motivational beliefs, such as disciplinary intelligence mindsets, can influence their physics performance and persistence. Intelligence mindset beliefs have long been argued to fall along of continuum between fixed and growth mindsets. Those with fixed physics mindsets believe that ability in physics is innate and unchangable, while…

Research on student retention in higher education (HE) physics could benefit by studying emotions in the context of engagement and learning. However, popular retention theories include only a narrow selection of emotions, creating a need to look elsewhere. In this study, we borrow the lens of an affective engagement model, the framework of an…

Students' self-efficacy in physics classes can play a key role in shaping course outcomes. Prior research has shown that women have a lower self-efficacy than men in calculus-based introductory physics courses. We administered a validated survey to 564 students to investigate the gender differences in self-efficacy and how it predicts student…

We present a study on the development of Finnish first-year physics majors' attitudes towards physics, as measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, before, during, and after the period of mandatory remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. We find that in the years before the pandemic, these attitudes did not change,…

Societal stereotypes and biases pertaining to who belongs in physics and who can excel in it can impact motivational beliefs of women in physics courses. Prior research has shown that women have lower physics self-efficacy than men in physics courses in which women are underrepresented. However, prior research has generally not investigated…

Self-efficacy is an aspect of students' motivation that has been shown to play a critical role in students' engagement, participation, and retention in academic careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Since women are underrepresented in STEM domains such as physics, we studied female and male students' self-efficacy…

Student sense of belonging in physics classes may not only play a key role in shaping course outcomes but also influence student persistence and future career aspirations. Prior research has shown that women have a lower sense of belonging than men in calculus-based introductory physics courses. However, prior research has generally not…