  The importance of science beliefs such as self-efficacy, interest, identity,
sense of belonging, perceived recognition and effectiveness of peer interaction
in science education has been increasingly recognized in recent years. Here, we
use five years of data from a validated survey administered to non-majors
during their first year, physics majors throughout their undergraduate
education, and first-year physics Ph.D. students at a large research university
in the US. We find that physics majors in the first-year responded to the
survey prompts more positively than their non-physics major peers who were in
the same introductory courses, with the largest differences in perceived
recognition, interest, and physics identity and somewhat smaller differences in
self-efficacy, perception of peer interaction, and sense of belonging. Further,
the average survey responses of physics majors for each belief remain largely
constant over time from their first-year of the undergraduate curriculum
through the last year and comparable to the Ph.D. students. This suggests that
students are adjusting their interpretation of the survey items to match the
current level of expertise expected of them. One exception occurs in the second
year, when peer interaction and sense of belonging reach a minimum. Moreover,
physics identity dips to the lowest value in the fourth year when many students
are contemplating continuing in physics beyond their undergraduate years or
switching fields. We also find that perceived recognition is the best predictor
of physics identity for physics majors throughout their entire physics
education, pointing to the importance of instructors making a concerted effort
to recognize and affirm their students throughout their education.
