Structural changes in interest in physics education from grade 7 to grade 9

Previous studies on the changes in interest of boys and girls in physics al low only limited conclusions about change to be drawn due to the quasi-long itudinal nature of the data. Using data from a genuine longitudinal study, this is the first paper to present results about individual changes in inte rest in physics of girls and boys. Changes in a categorical type variable r eferring to eight areas of contents in physics are modelled for girls and b oys using the latent Markov model in its multiple group version. Substantia l results common to all eight areas of contents are: Boys start off with a higher probability of belonging to the type of "interest in physics as form alized science" while girls have a higher probability of belonging to the t ype of "interest in applications and socially relevant issues of physics." This difference in the distribution of types for boys and girls increases o ver time due to gender specific changes from one type to another.