The underrepresentation of female students in university physics courses is a long-studied issue in many countries. Public data from the US, UK and NL indicate that when physics and astronomy are both offered at a university, astronomy tends to enrol up to 50% more female students. Many previous studies show strong gendered motivation differences for physics students, yet comparable studies for astronomy students are sparse. To explore this enrolment trend, we conducted a pilot comparative study exploring how and why astronomy and physics students at a large Dutch university chose their study programs. Identifying and understanding motivational factors, and if/how these may differ per study program, gender, and other variables of interest can help inform future efforts to improve equity.

About Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin is a PhD student in astronomy education research at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and in astronomy at the European Southern Observatory Garching (Germany). He is originally from Ireland and completed his bachelor of science in astronomy at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). His education research investigates the reasons why students choose to study astronomy and physics at university, with an aim towards improving equity in these fields.