The case of high motivation and low achievement in science: what is the role of students’ epistemic beliefs?

The importance of motivation-related factors in shaping students’ academic achievement across a range of areas, including science, has been consistently acknowledged by the existing research literature. In an effort to improve students’ science achievement, many education systems put particular emphasis on the enhancement of intrinsic (i.e. enjoyment and interest) and instrumental motivation in the subject. However, based on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, many of the countries that managed to increase their motivation indices between 2006 and 2015 did not necessarily note a rise in science performance, with many still performing below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. Interestingly, although students’ motivation increased in some of these countries (e.g. Luxembourg, Iceland and Greece), their average performance in science decreased. Using the PISA 2015 data for Greece, this study examined the case of high motivation and low achievement in science by incorporating epistemic beliefs in the discussion. The multilevel analysis confirmed the importance of 15-year-old students’ motivation for learning science in predicting their science achievement and highlighted the positive predictive power of their epistemic beliefs. Policy and practice recommendations are provided based on the study findings, stressing the key role of students’ epistemic beliefs.     

The role of personal best (PB) and dichotomous achievement goals in students’ academic motivation and engagement: a longitudinal investigation

This study assessed the role of prior personal best goals in predicting subsequent academic motivation and engagement. A total of 1160 high school students participated in a longitudinal survey study exploring the extent to which personal best and mastery and performance (dichotomous) achievement goals predict students’ academic motivation and engagement across the course of a full academic year. Findings showed that personal best goals predicted higher motivation and engagement a year later. Along with personal best goals, mastery goals also predicted higher motivation and engagement, while the role of performance goals was either neutral or negative. These findings provide support for the contention that personal best goals are associated with higher motivation and engagement across time.     

The continuity of college students’ autonomous learning motivation and its predictors: A three-year longitudinal study

This study examined change in Chinese students’ autonomous learning motivation in the first three years of college and how this change is accounted for by intra- and inter-individual variables. The sample included 633 (328 female) college freshmen. Results showed that students’ autonomous learning motivation decreased over years in college. Students’ perceived parental autonomy support and peer relatedness demonstrated different change patterns over time, but each variable positively predicted students’ autonomous learning motivation. Students majoring in science showed a more rapid decline in motivation than liberal arts students. Students studying a major of their own choice showed a higher initial level of motivation than students who were studying a major not of their own choice, but no group difference in the declining trend of motivation was observed. The positive effects of students' perceived institutional support on motivation were limited to the freshmen year.     

Correction to: Exploring students’ science motivation across grade levels and the role of inductive reasoning in science motivation

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The purpose of this study is to explore students’ motivation towards science learning at different grade levels and to investigate whether...     

A longitudinal study on the impact of parental academic support and expectations on students’ academic achievement: the mediating role of happiness

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Previous studies have separately explored the impact of parents’ academic support and expectation on students’ academic achievement....     

The interplay of learning approaches and self-efficacy in secondary school students’ academic achievement in science

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present investigation was to analyse the role of academic self-efficacy and approaches to learning in general and in Physics and Chemistry academic achievements. The sample comprised 507 secondary school students of two Spanish schools and the study was conducted in the context of a Physics and Chemistry subject. Structural equation models showed that surface motive was the only type of learning approach directly related to performance. Besides, our models revealed that self-efficacy plays an important role as a mediating variable between the surface strategy and the deep motive learning approaches and academic achievement. Gender effects were also studied as girls showed higher levels of achievement both in general performance and in Physics and Chemistry. Implications for science education and suggestions for future research of these findings are also discussed.     

The role of classroom characteristics for students’ motivation and career exploration

This study focused on students enrolled in obligatory vocational education courses in German secondary schools that aim to support students’ career exploration. The study examined the relations between student-perceived classroom characteristics (support for autonomy, competence and relatedness), students’ intrinsic motivation and their career exploration (self- and environmental exploration). Data were analysed from 1780 seventh- to tenth-graders (boys: 54.2%) from 13 German secondary schools. The structural equation modelling results revealed that student-perceived support for autonomy, competence and relatedness in class was significantly positively related to their intrinsic motivation and self-exploration. Student-perceived support for competence was significantly positively related to environment exploration. Student-perceived relatedness in class was significantly positively related to their achievement. Intrinsic motivation was significantly positively related to self- and environment exploration and achievement. The results showed that the paths within the tested model varied for boys and girls. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for career preparation in school, as well as related to gendered motivational processes.     

College students’ homework and academic achievement: The mediating role of self-regulatory beliefs

The influence of homework experiences on students’ academic grades was studied with 223 college students. Students’ self-efficacy for learning and perceived responsibility beliefs were included as mediating variables in this research. The students’ homework influenced their achievement indirectly via these two self-regulatory beliefs as well as directly. Self-efficacy for learning, although moderately correlated with perceptions of responsibility, predicted course grades more strongly than the latter variable. No gender differences were found for any of the variables, a finding that extends prior research based on high school girls. Educational implications about the importance of students’ homework completion and its relationship to college students’ development of self-regulation and positive self-efficacy beliefs is discussed from a social cognitive perspective.     

The impact of parental availability on Swazi students’ school achievement: a nine year longitudinal study

This paper constitutes a major part of the third phase of a longitudinal study in Swaziland investigating the short- and long-term effects of parental absence on primary children’s school achievement. In 1998, 42 of the original sample of 80 students who entered grade one in 1990 were found remaining in the educational system but varied in their educational attainment. While girls had a higher drop-out rate than boys, males repeated grades at a higher rate. Father absence from the home had a negative influence on boys’ participation in and successful completion of school. Generally, the study found school achievement to be highly impacted by social variables rather than academic ability for both boys and girls.     

The role of history in teaching science — A case study

One of the most interesting aspects of late-nineteenth-century France was the extraordinary interest the public expressed in science. Its adulation of Pasteur was only one of the many manifestations of this interest. It was also expressed in the widespread popularity of scientists as public figures and in the increasing public and private financial support of science. While popularity of science was created in the general public by fiction and by the various international world fairs held in Paris, it was strongest and most important in the middle classes.This paper examines one of the key methods used to stimulate bourgeois interest in science in France during the Second Empire and early Third Republic (1852–1895): the campaign to create ascience vulgarisée, a popularized science. While a number of different approaches used by these popularizers are examined, the article concentrates on the science writings of Jules Michelet and Jules Verne, both of whom were immensely successful in creating a favorable climate of opinion for French science. The article concludes by suggesting how such an approach could be modernized and utilized in order to create greater scientific literacy and a similar acceptance by the public today.     

The impact of school SES composition on science achievement and achievement growth: mediating role of teachers’ teachability culture

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that schools’ socioeconomic-status (SES) composition has an impact on the academic performance of pupils. Less attention has been given to the explanation of this effect. This study examined whether the teachability culture among the school staff (teachers’ collective beliefs about how teachable their pupils are) mediated the school SES effect on science achievement and achievement growth. Multilevel analyses were conducted with data from 1,761 pupils and 1,255 teachers across 66 primary schools in Flanders. First, the analyses indicated that there was a positive association between school SES composition and teachability culture: Even after controlling for cognitive ability and performance of pupils, there was a more pessimist culture in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. Second, the association between school SES and academic performance was explained/mediated by the teachability culture. However, no school effects or mediation effects were found for achievement growth as the covered period of academic growth was too short.     

Undergraduate students’ motivation and engagement in China: an exploratory study

Viewing student engagement as a multidimensional construct, this study explored the motivation and engagement of undergraduate students in China. A sample of 1131 students from 10 full-time universities in Beijing participated in a survey. The results showed that the Motivation and Engagement Scale for university/college students is a promising and valid instrument for assessing student engagement in Chinese universities. Chinese undergraduates simultaneously performed well in both adaptive and maladaptive motivation and engagement, indicating some influence from the cultural context of China. Four categories of learners were generated according to their motivation and engagement characteristics. Some consistent patterns of individual differences related to gender, grade level, discipline and institution type were revealed. The results have implications for enhancing student engagement.     

The relationship between inquiry-based teaching and students’ achievement. New evidence from a longitudinal PISA study in England

Inquiry-based science teaching involves supporting pupils to acquire scientific knowledge indirectly by conducting their own scientific experiments, rather than receiving scientific knowledge directly from teachers. This approach to instruction is widely used among science educators in many countries. However, researchers and policymakers have recently called the effectiveness of inquiry approaches into doubt. Using nationally-representative linked survey and administrative data we find little evidence that the frequency of inquiry-based instruction is positively associated with teenagers’ performance in science examinations. This finding is robust to the use of different measures of inquiry, different measures of attainment, across classrooms with varying levels of disciplinary standards and across gender and prior attainment subgroups.     

Classroom management and students' mathematics achievement: The role of students’ disruptive behavior and teacher classroom management

Establishing a well-organized classroom conducive to learning is a key element of high-quality teaching. However, less is known about the degree to which the classroom management process is affected by the specific students in the classroom. Using two large-scale datasets of German secondary school students, the present two studies examined the effectiveness of teachers' classroom management in mathematics while taking into account students' disruptive behavior in the classroom. When controlling for the average level of disruptions in the classroom, both students' disruptive behavior and teachers' monitoring activity were negatively associated with students' mathematics achievement, whereas no associations occurred for teachers' structure and rule clarity. The results suggest that teachers' monitoring activity needs to take into account students’ disruptive behavior in the classroom, highlighting the complexity of effective classroom management.     

The role of autonomy supportive activities on students’ motivation and beliefs toward out-of-school activities

Physical education in elementary education usually provides children’s first contact with sports. According to the trans-contextual model of motivation, physical education teachers can positively influence children’s beliefs toward and actual leisure time physical activity behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a dance-based physical education program on motivation regarding physical education lesson participation, as well as leisure time physical activity participation. The sample consisted of 252 pupils attending Grades 5 and 6 of elementary school (M_age?=?10.48 years, SD?=?0.50 years). Participants were randomly assigned into three groups. The first group attended a physical education lesson based on various forms of dance, the second one attended lessons with Greek traditional dances only, and the third group served as active control group that attended the typical curriculum. The intervention lasted six weeks. Before and after the intervention, students completed survey-based measures of motivational climate, motivational regulations in physical education and leisure time, enjoyment, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and intentions toward leisure time physical activity. In support of the trans-contextual model, results showed that students in the dance intervention programs scored significantly higher in perceptions of motivational climate and beliefs toward leisure time physical activity. The findings of the study suggest that dancing lessons at school can bolster more positive attitudes and beliefs toward physical education and leisure time physical activity.     

The challenges of instructors’ and students’ attitudes in digital transformation: A case study of Saudi Universities

Education and Information Technologies - Digital Transformation (DT) has become the core motivator for almost all organizations worldwide. In order to cope up with the new demands, Higher Education...     

Temporal stability of teachers’ judgment accuracy of students’ motivation,emotion, and achievement

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Numerous studies have focused on the significance and consequences of teacher judgment; the development of teachers’ judgment accuracy over time,...     

The role of self-study time in freshmen’s achievement

Although invested study time is expected to relate to exam performance, research findings have been mixed. Therefore, the current study examined (a) the role of self-study time above and beyond relevant student characteristics, affective-motivational processes (i.e. academic self-efficacy, learning goal orientation, and action-state orientation) and the cognitive learning activities deployed while studying the course (i.e. deep, stepwise, and concrete processing), and (b) whether the effect of self-study time on course grade is moderated by these affective-motivational and cognitive learning activities and/or by student characteristics. Ninety three freshmen following a Macro-Economics course and 70 freshmen enrolling in Financial Accounting 2 participated. For Macro-Economics, self-study time predicted course grade above and beyond relevant student characteristics, the degree of class attendance, and course-specific affective-motivational and cognitive learning activities. No interaction effects were obtained. For Financial Accounting 2, students only benefited from more self-study time when they made few exercises.     

Teachers’ estimates of their students’ motivation and engagement: being in synch with students

Being aware of, monitoring and responding constructively to students’ signals of motivation and to students’ signals of engagement represent two important teaching skills. We hypothesised, however, that teachers would better estimate their students’ engagement than they would estimate their students’ motivation. To test this hypothesis, Korean high-school teachers rated three aspects of motivation and four aspects of engagement for each student in their class, while students completed questionnaires to provide referent self-reports of these same aspects of their motivation and engagement. Multi-level analyses showed that, after statistically controlling for the potentially confounding information of student achievement, teachers’ engagement estimates corresponded significantly to their students’ self-reports while their motivation estimate did not. These findings validate teachers’ skill in inferring their students’ classroom engagement and lead to the recommendation that teachers monitor classroom engagement to be in synch with their students during instruction.     

A longitudinal study of engineering students’ approaches to their studies

This longitudinal study draws on data from a larger project and examines how students’ perceptions of their opportunities to influence their study environment may be enacted in approaches aimed at influencing their studies, and whether this changes during the course of their studies. Ten students from a 4.5‐year Master’s programme in Engineering were studied throughout their education by means of semi‐structured in‐depth interviews, which were analysed thematically. The results indicate that students’ perceptions of their study environment were enacted in three approaches aimed at influencing their study environment: (i) to adapt to the environment and to study alone; (ii) to try to change the programme, to create an individual curriculum and to interact with teachers; and (iii) to cooperate with their peers. The thematic analysis suggests that students’ perceptions of their study environment were enacted in the different approaches and that these changed along with external demands in the programme.