Thai Secondary School Students’ Physics Identities: Measurement, Exploration, and Structural Analysis

Abstract

Physics is a scientific discipline that not only helps students understand physical phenomena but also underpins many applied fields. In learning physics, students should develop their physics identity—the ability to see oneself as a “physics person”—in addition to acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Despite growing awareness of the importance of physics identity worldwide, there is no instrument that measures Thai students’ physics identities, making it difficult to monitor and support their development. To address this gap, this study aimed to develop a quantitative scale of physics identity comprising three components: interest, performance, and recognition. Data were collected from 117 students in three schools from Grades 10–12. Exploratory factor analysis supported a three-factor structure, with three items for each component. Reliability for the individual components and the overall scale was acceptable. Gender appeared to be an influential factor, with male students demonstrating significantly stronger physics identities than their female counterparts, while school and grade level showed no significant effects. Regardless of their demographic characteristics, students showed significant differences across components: Interest was reported as the highest, followed by performance and then recognition. Structural equation modeling indicated that these components significantly predicted a single-item measure of overall physics identity, with good model fit. These findings highlight the need to strengthen physics identities more robustly, especially among female students. Additionally, special attention should be paid to fostering recognition. The scale developed in this study serves as an instrument for assessing students’ physics identities and monitoring their development.