Family Support of Math and Science: Examining an Untapped Source of Resilience for Diverse High School Students

高中是许多学生STEM课程和职业轨迹的关键转折点。例如，学生的数学动机在高中达到顶峰，但45%表示有兴趣从事STEM职业的10年级学生在高中结束时失去了这种兴趣。只有最少数学和科学高中课程的青少年极不可能尝试或能够进入STEM大学专业和职业。 为了改变这些趋势，有必要了解如何最好地支持高中学生的数学和科学。此外，为了增加国家STEM劳动力的多样性，重要的是要了解激励过程是否对居住在性别，种族和社会阶层等人口特征交叉点的青年有不同的作用。目前对高中生STEM动机的社会因素的研究主要基于对白人家庭的研究。该项目体现了教育和人力资源核心研究计划对STEM学习基础研究的承诺，该研究结合了来自广泛学科和背景的理论，技术和观点。 从期望价值动机理论，社会定位理论和女权主义交叉性理论，这个项目有五个目标，围绕理解家长在学生的STEM轨迹中发挥的作用。家庭支持很重要，因为它被认为是保持学生兴趣的重要因素。为了实现其目标，项目团队将分析来自高中纵向研究（HSLS）的四波数据。HSLS包括21，444名9年级学生的全国代表性样本。它提供了一个大的，丰富的样本来研究交叉性，定义为学生的同时状态多个人口指标。这些数据包括纵向多报告信息的学生动机，成果，并在数学和科学的家长支持。学生的轨迹将在9年级，11年级，高中毕业后立即下降，高中毕业后3年跟踪。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

High school is a critical turning point in many students' STEM coursework and career trajectories. For example, students' math motivation peaks in high school yet 45% of 10th graders who express interest in pursuing a STEM career lose that interest by the end of high school. Adolescents with minimal math and science high school coursework are extremely unlikely to either try or be able to enter STEM college majors and careers. To change these trends, it is necessary to understand how best to support high school students in math and science. Moreover, to increase the diversity of the nation's STEM workforce, it is important to understand whether motivational processes work differently for youth who reside at the intersections of demographic characteristics such as gender, race and social class. The current body of research on social factors that contribute to high school students' STEM motivation is largely based on studies of Caucasian families. This project exemplifies the Education and Human Resources Core Research program's commitment to fundamental research on learning in STEM that combines theory, techniques, and perspectives from a wide range of disciplines and contexts. Drawing from expectancy-value motivational theory, social positioning theories and feminist intersectionality theory, this project has five aims that center around understanding the role that parents play in students' STEM trajectories. Family support matters because it has been recognized as an important factor in maintaining student interest. To achieve its aims, the project team will analyze four waves of data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS). The HSLS includes a nationally representative sample of 21,444 9th graders. It offers a large, rich sample to study intersectionality as defined by students' simultaneous status on multiple demographic indicators. The data includes longitudinal multi-reporter information on student motivation, outcomes, and parent support in math and science. Students' trajectories will be traced at 9th grade, 11th grade, the fall immediately after high school graduation, and 3 years after high school. The role of other socializing factors such as school and peer experiences are also examined.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.