Using expectancy-value theory to understand the teaching motivations of women physics lecturers
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Durk, Jessie
Smith, Amy
Aydın, Bilgesu
Julia, Adèle
Rabey, Isabel
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Being lectured by a woman physicist can benefit students’ performance, motivation and engagement with physics. However, due to the severe underrepresentation of women physics faculty, these instances may be scarce. Through semi-structured interviews with seven women physics lecturers, we used expectancy-value theory to understand the situative nature of gender regarding motivation to lecture. We sought to understand their choices and decisions when selecting their teaching roles, and if lecturing, what draws them towards certain courses. Our study was a staff-student partnership project carried out in a physics department in a UK university. We identified themes
of confidence, enjoyment, the importance of lecturing, and the associated workload. The academic women could not relate to the “showperson” persona that they felt their men colleagues displayed. They navigated low levels of confidence by adopting a painstaking approach to lecture preparation, suggesting an inherent, higher workload associated with lecturing, compared with other forms of
teaching. However, the women highly valued lecturing, enjoying the excitement and interactions with students, and were drawn towards developing students’ knowledge and skills. Being familiar with the content allowed them to feel confident in lecturing. We discuss these findings and
recommend areas of support that physics departments should endeavour to offer.
of confidence, enjoyment, the importance of lecturing, and the associated workload. The academic women could not relate to the “showperson” persona that they felt their men colleagues displayed. They navigated low levels of confidence by adopting a painstaking approach to lecture preparation, suggesting an inherent, higher workload associated with lecturing, compared with other forms of
teaching. However, the women highly valued lecturing, enjoying the excitement and interactions with students, and were drawn towards developing students’ knowledge and skills. Being familiar with the content allowed them to feel confident in lecturing. We discuss these findings and
recommend areas of support that physics departments should endeavour to offer.
Date Issued
2024-01
Date Acceptance
2024-05-15
Citation
Physical Review Physics Education Research, 2024, 20 (1)
ISSN
2469-9896
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Physics Education Research
Volume
20
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to
the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation,
and DOI.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to
the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation,
and DOI.
License URL
Identifier
https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.010157
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
010157
Date Publish Online
2024-06-28