  Too often, physics students are beset by feelings of failure and isolation
rather than experiencing the creative joys of discovery that physics has to
offer. This dissertation research was founded on the desire of a teacher to
make physics class exciting and motivating to his students. This work explores
how various aspects of learning environments interact with student motivation.
This work uses qualitative and quantitative methods to explore how students are
motivated to engage in physics and how they feel about themselves while
engaging in physics. The collection of four studies in this dissertation
culminates in a sociocultural perspective on motivation and identity. This
perspective uses two extremes of how students experience physics as a lens for
understanding motivation: fear and self-preservation versus integrity and
self-expression. Rather than viewing motivation as a property of the student,
or viewing students as inherently interested or disinterested in physics, the
theoretical perspective on motivation and identity helps examine features of
the learning environments that determine how students experience themselves
through physics class. This perspective highlights the importance of feeling a
sense of belonging in the context of physics and the power that teachers have
in shaping student motivations through the construction of their classroom
learning environments. Findings demonstrate how different ways that students
experience themselves in physics class impact their performance and interest in
physics. This dissertation concludes with a set of design principles that can
foster integration and integrity among students in physics learning
environments.
