A Measure of Students' Motivation to Learn Science through Agricultural STEM Emphasis

Abstract

There is an increased demand for motivated high school students to enter postsecondary STEM fields. Agriscience education is an innovative curriculum that can motivate students and spark interest in STEM. To recruit students to such programs, we must understand what motivates them. The purpose of this study was to determine how the secondary agriculture students conceptualized their motivation to learn agriscience. A descriptive-correlational research design was utilized with a modified version of the Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ II) used as the survey instrument. Overall, students were found to have moderate levels of motivation in agriscience courses. Grade motivation and self-efficacy were found to be the motivational constructs that meant the most to students. Students were least motivated by self-determination. Getting an A and the chance to receive higher grades in their agriculture science courses were found to be the highest motivators. Researchers found that there were no significant correlations between gender or grade level and motivation to learn science. Females generally had higher motivation within self- determination and grade motivation than males. Additional research is needed in this area to determine what factors may exist that are preventing highly efficacious females from choosing STEM careers.