Measuring adolescent science motivation

ABSTRACTTo monitor science motivation, 232 tenth graders of the college preparatory level ('Gymnasium') completed the Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ-II). Additionally, personality data were collected using a 10-item version of the Big Five Inventory. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis based on the eigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion, extracted a loading pattern, which in principle, followed the SMQ-II frame. Two items were dropped due to inappropriate loadings. The remaining SMQ-II seems to provide a consistent scale matching the findings in literature. Nevertheless, also possible shortcomings of the scale are discussed. Data showed a higher perceived self-determination in girls which seems compensated by their lower self-efficacy beliefs leading to equality of females and males in overall science motivation scores. Additionally, the Big Five personality traits and science motivation components show little relationship.KEYWORDS: Science motivationassessmentpersonality traitsself-efficacysecondary educationBig Five AcknowledgementsThis study was supported by the Inspiring Science Education (ISE) project funded by the European Union's ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. The manuscript has greatly benefited from comments by M. Wiseman.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.