Methods for Analyzing Pathways through a Physics Major

TL;DR

This paper introduces methods to visualize and quantitatively analyze student pathways through a physics major, addressing a gap in understanding how students progress from entry to graduation or transfer.

Contribution

It develops new visualization and analysis techniques to study student progression and degree changes within physics programs, focusing on pathways at Michigan State University.

Findings

Identified common pathways students take through the physics major

Quantified rates of degree completion and transfer into/out of physics

Provided insights into student progression patterns

Abstract

Physics Education Research frequently investigates what students studying physics do on small time scales (e.g. single courses, observations within single courses), or post-education time scales (e.g., what jobs do physics majors get?) but there is little research into how students get from the beginning to the end of a physics degree. Our work attempts to visualize students paths through the physics major, and quantitatively describe the students who take physics courses, receive physics degrees, and change degree paths into and out of the physics program at Michigan State University.