CAREER: How Families Motivate Mexican-Origin Adolescents to Pursue Physical Science in High School

提出的CAREER研究采用综合混合方法设计，为西班牙语和英语的墨西哥裔高中物理科学青年制定动机信念和家庭支持的措施。该研究考察了一个由三部分组成的模型，该模型可以更深入地了解墨西哥家庭如何通过其一般教育策略、对物理科学的信念和科学特定行为来支持青少年。这种方法结合了动机和生态发展理论，同时追求创新的研究路线，研究哥哥姐姐和亲戚的贡献如何补充或补充父母的支持。本研究有四个目的：(1)为墨西哥裔青少年的动机信念和家庭支持与高中化学和物理的关系制定可靠、有效的测量方法；(2)检验家庭支持是否能预测动机信念和课程入学率；(3)检验目标2中的指标如何因性别、文化、英语语言技能和关系质量而变化。(4)研究家庭支持如何加强或削弱基于学校的互动（教师和同伴支持）与追求物理科学研究之间的关系。西班牙语和讲英语的墨西哥裔青年将参加焦点小组，为调查工具的发展提供信息，该工具将用于300名高中生的统计测量等效性研究，以实现目标1。150名墨西哥高中生和他们的家人将参加一项纵向研究，同时学生们将在9-12年级学习目标2- 4。收集的数据包括关于科学课程、青少年动机信念、母亲和家庭中年长青年的支持以及家庭互动的信息。所有的材料都是英语和西班牙语。教育和研究整合计划采用三管齐下的方法，包括博士生指导，教师外展，以及使用研究结果对亚利桑那州立大学生物设计高中暑期实习项目进行评估。预计研究结果将为影响青年物理科学学习动机的一些具体行为提供基于研究的解决方案。具体而言，该研究将确定可能受干预影响最大的青少年和受益最大的年龄，以及可用于干预措施以衡量结果的有效、可靠的青少年动机测量。该研究还将确定可能受到影响的家庭行为，包括入学准备的教育策略，对物理科学的信念，以及参与校外科学活动等科学特定策略。研究结果将广泛传播给科学教师、学者和墨西哥裔青年家庭。这种多层次的方法将推进当前关于墨西哥裔青少年追求物理科学的学术和实践。

The proposed CAREER study uses a comprehensive mixed-methods design to develop measures of motivational beliefs and family supports for Spanish and English speaking Mexican-origin youth in high school physical science. The research examines a three-part model which may provide a deeper understanding of how Mexican families support youth through their general education strategies, beliefs about physical science, and science specific behaviors. This approach incorporates motivation and ecodevelopmental theories while pursuing an innovative line of research that examines how the contributions of older siblings and relatives complement or supplement parental support. The study has four aims which are to (1) to develop reliable, valid measures of Mexican-origin adolescent motivational beliefs and family supports in relation to high school chemistry and physics, (2) to test whether family supports predict motivational beliefs and course enrollment, (3) to test how indicators in Aim 2 vary based on gender, culture, English language skills and relationship quality, and ( 4) to examine how family supports strengthen or weaken the relationship between school-based interactions (teachers and peer support) and the pursuit of physical science studies. Spanish and English-speaking Mexican-origin youth will participate in focus groups to inform the development of a survey instrument which will be used in a statistical measurement equivalence study of 300 high school students in fulfillment of Aim 1. One hundred and fifty Mexican high school students and their families will participate in a longitudinal study while students progress through grades 9-12 to examine Aims 2- 4. Data to be collected includes information on science coursework, adolescent motivational beliefs, supports by mothers and older youth in the family, and family interactions. All materials will be in English and Spanish. The educational and research integration plan uses a three pronged approach which includes mentoring of doctoral students, teacher outreach, and the evaluation of the ASU Biodesign high school summer internship program using measures resulting from the research. It is anticipated that the study findings will provide research-based solutions to some of the specific behaviors that influence youth motivation in physical sciences. Specifically, the study will identify youth that might be most affected by an intervention and the age of maximum benefit, as well as valid, reliable measures of youths' motivation that can used in interventions to measure outcomes. The study will also identify family behaviors that may be influenced, including education strategies for school preparation, beliefs about physical science, and sciece-specific strategies such as engaging in science activities outside school. The findings will be broadly disseminated to science teachers, scholars, and families of Mexican-origin youth. This multi-tiered approach will advance current scholarship and practice concerning Mexican-origin adolescents' pursuit of physical science.