Boys' and girls' self-beliefs, engagement, and aspirations in physics

Students' self-beliefs and engagement in learning are known to be associated with learning outcomes. In learning physics, students' self-efficacy and engagement in physics as well as their inclination to scientific inquiry are likely to influence their views of future opportunities and aspirations in a career that is related to physics. However, some gender differences may also exist. A sample of students from secondary 1 (7th grade) in Singapore responded to survey items that asked about five constructs: self-efficacy, engagement, inquiry, job opportunity, and career aspiration, all pertaining to the domain of physics. Confirmatory factor analysis defined the five constructs. Self-efficacy, engagement, and inquiry were positively correlated with both perceived job opportunity and career aspiration, but their correlations with self-efficacy appear to be higher, indicating that self-efficacy may be a relatively stronger factor in relation to students' views about their future. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found that boys and girls did not differ significantly in engagement, inquiry, and perceived job opportunity, indicating that they worked similarly hard, were both inclined to engaging in scientific inquiry, and had similar views toward future opportunity. However , boys had significantly higher self-efficacy in physics and higher career aspiration for a career related to physics. Considering contemporary gender imbalance in the job market of physics-related professions, it is important to enhance girls' self-efficacy in physics in order to attract females to join the field.