The mediational role of STEM majors’ physics self-efficacy across genders

Dr Z. Yasemin Kalendar will discuss the role of students’ motivational characteristics in an introductory level physics courses with a focus on one type of student motivation: self- efficacy, described as “individuals’ beliefs about how well they expect to do in a certain task, domain or subject” (Bandura, 1974). The construct of self-efficacy has been used widely as a strong measurement of student attitudes in education studies. Dr Kalendar will present a couple of her studies conducted in college-level physics courses within the United States, which aimed to understand and explain observed gender differences in students’ motivational factors, and the link between prior knowledge and students’ learning outcomes. She will also describe how she uses quantitative tools in education research, such as Structural Equation Modelling, to begin to evaluate complex models of student characteristics and attitudes. The findings shared in this talk can have potential implications for why we need more effective pedagogical methods supporting all groups of students’ learning experiences and probing more meaningful and long-lasting classroom engagement.

About Our Speaker 

Dr Z. Yasemin Kalendar, Lecturer and Physics Education Researcher, School of Physics, University of Liverpool 

Dr Kalender’s research interests are in studying diversity issues in the physics discipline, investigating motivational characteristics of students, and incorporating mixed method and big data analysis techniques into the area of physics education research. Her current research projects focus on student motivation, equity and diversity in physics at all levels, group work in lectures and lab courses, sense of agency in hands on learning spaces, and graduate teaching assistants’ views and teacher identities. Before coming to Liverpool, Dr Kalender was an Assistant Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Assistant Director of Science Pedagogy at Harvard University supporting STEM teaching and learning at all levels.  During her postdoc, she was an Active Learning Initiative Fellow at Cornell University, investigating the inquiry-based physics lab courses and their impact on students’ motivational factors across different demographic groups after receiving her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.