DrAdam Masri
Associate Teaching Fellow
Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Education
Orcid identifier0009-0003-7006-7948 (opens in a new tab)
- Associate Teaching FellowFaculty of Arts and Education/School of Education
- Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I have always been fascinated by identity construction and how religion, gender, culture and ethnicity shape it. Since I moved to Australia in 2011, I have witnessed a decline in interest in STEM courses and careers, particularly among women and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. My feminist beliefs and my desire to achieve social justice for disadvantaged groups piqued my interest in exploring STEM identity and the societal influences that lead to such decline.
In my PhD thesis, I investigated the discursive practices that shape girls’ physics identity. I adopted a transformative mixed-methods research design drawing on gender theory and an identity construction framework to understand how the culture of physics frames it as an elite discipline that alienates girls. This research is among a few Australian studies that explored the role of career advice in shaping girls’ (and boys’) physics identity. Additionally, the in-depth analysis of students’, teachers’ and career advisors’ interviews, as well as the descriptive statistical analysis of students’ online surveys provided new insights into the gender gap in physics, as the findings revealed an intricate web of influences that cannot be investigated separately.
In my PhD thesis, I investigated the discursive practices that shape girls’ physics identity. I adopted a transformative mixed-methods research design drawing on gender theory and an identity construction framework to understand how the culture of physics frames it as an elite discipline that alienates girls. This research is among a few Australian studies that explored the role of career advice in shaping girls’ (and boys’) physics identity. Additionally, the in-depth analysis of students’, teachers’ and career advisors’ interviews, as well as the descriptive statistical analysis of students’ online surveys provided new insights into the gender gap in physics, as the findings revealed an intricate web of influences that cannot be investigated separately.