Exploring Ontario Grade Ten Students' Decisions to Select or Reject School Physics

Abstract

Declining science enrolment, with the greatest decline in physics, has generated concern surrounding students’ future abilities to function in an increasingly scientific and technology-focused society. In an attempt to understand why students select or reject physics, a multiphase qualitative phenomenological study was designed, with the following questions: (a) Why do students select or reject physics courses? (b) What role does physics identity play in student course selection? (c) What other factors, extrinsic or intrinsic, affect their choices to pursue physics? Questionnaire, interview, focus group and student drawing data indicate students reject physics when it is not required for further studies in university based on their belief that physics is a difficult math-reliant subject, they do not identify with physics, and they are unsure what physics is and what they would study. Recommendations include teaching physics aligned with students’ interests, and teaching physics to promote a positive physics student identity.