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

拟议的职业研究采用全面的混合方法设计，为讲西班牙语和英语的墨西哥裔高中物理青年制定激励信念和家庭支持的衡量标准。这项研究考察了一个由三部分组成的模型，该模型可能会更深入地了解墨西哥家庭如何通过他们的一般教育战略、对物理科学的信念和科学特定行为来支持年轻人。这种方法结合了动机和生态发展理论，同时寻求一种创新的研究路线，研究年长兄弟姐妹和亲属的贡献如何补充或补充父母的支持。这项研究有四个目的：(1)开发与高中化学和物理有关的墨西哥裔青少年动机信念和家庭支持的可靠、有效的测量；(2)测试家庭支持是否能预测动机信念和课程入学；(3)测试目标2中的指标如何随着性别、文化、英语语言技能和关系质量的变化而变化；以及(4)考察家庭支持如何加强或削弱学校互动(教师和同伴支持)与追求物理科学研究之间的关系。以西班牙语和英语为母语的墨西哥裔青年将参加焦点小组，为调查工具的开发提供信息，该工具将用于对300000名高中生完成目标1的统计测量等价性研究。150名墨西哥高中生及其家庭将参加一项纵向研究，同时学生将从9-12年级进步到目标2-4。收集的数据包括科学课程、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等信息。所有材料都将用英语和西班牙语编写。教育和研究整合计划采用三管齐下的方法，包括指导博士生、教师外展，以及使用研究产生的措施评估亚利桑那大学生物设计高中暑期实习计划。预计这项研究结果将为影响青年物理动机的一些具体行为提供基于研究的解决方案。具体地说，这项研究将确定可能受干预影响最大的青年和受益最大的年龄，以及可用于干预措施以衡量结果的青年动机的有效、可靠的衡量标准。这项研究还将确定可能受到影响的家庭行为，包括上学准备的教育策略、对物理科学的信念，以及参与校外科学活动等特定科学策略。这些发现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动目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.