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Participation in science, technology, engineering, and math is essential for the United States to competitively compete in today's global economy. These disciplines are also important to the development of a solid 21^st century workforce. But, how do you get experts in these subjects when more and more high school students choose not to take advanced courses in science and math?

Researchers say that "because many math and science classes are not required, especially in the last two years of high school, student enrollment may be a more fundamentally important issue than student motivation."

According to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, parental involvement is critical in motivating students to participate in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Researchers followed 181 high school students and their parents during the students' 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years. In the 10^th and 11^th grades, researchers mailed some parents a glossy brochure that provided information about the importance of math and science in daily life and for various careers and a website that featured links to resources about science, technology, engineering, and math fields and careers and included interviews with college students about the importance of the math and science courses they took in high school. In the summer following 12th grade, all students and parents completed a final questionnaire about their interactions with the brochures and the website and their perceived utility of math and science courses. Information about the science, technology, engineering, and math classes that the students took was obtained through self-report and high school transcripts.

According to the findings, the brochure and the website links had a noticeable effect on the courses that the students enrolled in. Researchers say students whose parents received all the materials took more science and math classes - an extra semester of advanced math or science, including courses such as algebra II, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics, chemistry, and physics - in the last two years of high school.

Lead author Judith Harackiewicz said the study shows the impact of parent involvement.

"Although some people question whether parents wield any influence, we think of parents as an untapped resource," Harackiewicz said. "This study shows that it is possible to help parents help their teens make academic choices that will prepare them for the future."

According to researchers, mothers who received all the materials viewed math and science courses as more useful and students with parents who received all the materials had more conversations with their parents about course choices, educational plans, and the importance of math and science during 12th grade.

"It's well known that children of more educated parents take more math and science courses in high school," Harackiewicz said.  "The effect of our intervention was just as strong as the parent education effect. These findings provide evidence that interventions with parents could be a useful tool for boosting enrollment in STEM courses and could help to close gaps in student enrollment that result from differences in parental education."

Researchers say having a mother who values science, technology, engineering, and math and having more conversations about science, technology, engineering, and math appeared to have enhanced students' own perceptions of the usefulness of those courses.

 "These findings provide evidence that interventions with parents could be a useful tool for boosting enrollment in STEM courses and could help to close gaps in student enrollment that result from differences in parental education.