Exploring the Relationships Between Undergraduate and High School Students’ Self-Efficacy, Engagement, and Attitudes Towards Physics

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between attitudes, engagement and self-efficacy in physics. The analysis was based on three Likert-scale surveys designed to measure the constructs addressed and administered online to N = 1,971 Italian undergraduate and high school students. After exploring several possible models, we validated a structural model in which attitudes play the role of the independent variable, self-efficacy represents the dependent variable, and engagement acts as the overall mediator. The results have implications for teaching in terms of understanding the mechanism underlying the promotion of students’ self-efficacy in physics.