Adolescent Academic Motivation in Science and Math Across Different Socioeconomic and Cultural Contexts

• In Event: Motivating Mathematics and Science Learners

Abstract

Motivation is an important student characteristic that is believed to strengthen success in school and at work. Using PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) data, this study will examine 15-year-old students’ academic motivational differences in science and math across cultural and socioeconomic contexts. In this study, cultural context refers to Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions. Socio-economic contexts are operationalized at the micro- and macro-level. This study adopts a hierarchical stepwise multilevel modeling to separately take into account of student-level information and national level characteristics, as well as interaction effects, to predict student motivations. Overall, this study should provide significant findings and implications for any motivational differences across cultural or socioeconomic contexts that may show the early acculturation and socialization effects.

Author

• Jungwon Kim, University of California - Los Angeles