Exploring Achievement Emotions in Physical Education: The Potential for the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions

ABSTRACT

Emotions experienced in educational settings link to students’ motivation, engagement, learning, and achievement. Despite meaningful interconnections between emotions, motivation, and desired outcomes, a dearth of research on student emotions in physical education (PE) currently exists. The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (CVTAE) highlights the importance of emotions within students’ achievement motivation and provides a comprehensive framework for investigating their antecedents and outcomes. The purpose of this investigation was to explore CVTAE as a potential framework to understand students’ achievement emotions in PE. We focus on emotional antecedents associated with the PE learning context and the role of emotions in facilitating desired PE outcomes.     

Understanding motivational structures that differentially predict engagement and achievement in middle school science

Middle school has been documented as the period in which a drop in students’ science interest and achievement occurs. This trend indicates a lack of motivation for learning science; however, little is known about how different aspects of motivation interact with student engagement and science learning outcomes. This study examines the relationships among motivational factors, engagement, and achievement in middle school science (grades 6–8). Data were obtained from middle school students in the United States (N?=?2094). The theoretical relationships among motivational constructs, including self-efficacy, and three types of goal orientations (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoid) were tested. The results showed that motivation is best modeled as distinct intrinsic and extrinsic factors; lending evidence that external, performance based goal orientations factor separately from self-efficacy and an internal, mastery based goal orientation. Second, a model was tested to examine how engagement mediated the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and science achievement. Engagement mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and science achievement, whereas extrinsic motivation had no relationship with engagement and science achievement. Implications for how classroom practice and educational policy emphasize different student motivations, and in turn, can support or hinder students’ science learning are discussed.     

Achievement motivation revisited: new longitudinal data to demonstrate its predictive power

During recent decades, the classical one‐dimensional concept of achievement motivation has become less popular among motivation researchers. This study aims to revive the concept by demonstrating its predictive power using longitudinal data from two cohort samples, each with 20,000 Dutch secondary school students. Two measures of achievement motivation were constructed on the basis of Hermans' Achievement Motivation Test for Children. Results showed that these measures predicted later educational attainment and achievement, and were related to movements in educational career. Our measures of achievement motivation showed a certain stability over time; this stability decreased, however, with the length of the interval between measurements. In addition, a consistent decrease of motivation with age was found.     

Reflections on “recognition and development of academic talent in educationally disadvantaged students”

The challenge for school administrators is to direct system-wide initiatives that redefine leadership in ways that support the use of proven practices and link administrative interventions to increased educational achievement for each student who has a disability and for all the students who are in their charge. Leadership that embraces evidence-based practices promises new opportunities for collecting and using data related to student achievement, and determining which leadership practices contribute toward positive student outcomes. Responsive administrative interventions that support teaching and learning, system-wide progress monitoring, and collaborative problem-solving, are suggested as methods for promoting effective school outcomes for all students. This discussion proposes that administrators who organize teams to implement responsive leadership interventions, strategies for system-wide progress monitoring, and problem-solving, create cultures for data-based decisions that link leadership initiatives to instruction and learning outcomes for students who have disabilities.     

Learning motivation from a cross-cultural perspective: a moving target?

This paper investigates the relationship between educational achievement and the motivation to learn. We used the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that contains representative samples from 55 nations. A strong negative correlation between educational achievement and motivation toward science learning emerged at the national level. We found that differences in the socioeconomic levels of nations are associated with this unexpected negative correlation. Children from developed societies achieve higher educational results but may tend to be rather critical in describing their learning motivation, and vice versa, students from developing countries do not attain very high educational outcomes, but their motivation, as stated on the self-report questionnaires, is high. We offer different explanations for this phenomenon. The motivation to learn in relation to the level of development of countries is a moving target, and this should be taken into account at all levels of education policymaking, from schools to national governments.     

Measuring teacher perceptions of the “how” and “why” of student motivation

In the field of educational psychology, there is diverse and active research in motivation for learning and achievement. Many instruments exist for assessing students' motivation, primarily as self-report. Fewer instruments are available for assessing teachers' perceptions of their students' motivation, and fewer still for assessing teachers' perceptions of reasons for students' lack of motivation. Teachers' intervention strategies for motivation are linked to their causal perceptions. Therefore, it is important to assess those causal perceptions. In this paper, we offer evidence for the Perceptions of Student Motivation questionnaire, a new measure that offers evidence of validity and reliability for this purpose among high school teachers. It offers potential to increase efficiency and clarity of findings regarding teachers' perceptions of students' motivation.     

Applying educational models in technological education

This paper presents a group of elements to improve teaching and learning in technological education. These elements are based on some contributions issued from contemporary educational models, namely, the thematic approach, meaningful learning, concept maps, and the spiral curriculum. Based on a thematic approach, a new way is proposed to select the contents that will be explored in the educational process. We emphasize the benefits of a thematic approach in students’ motivation. After contents are chosen, we propose the use of the directives of meaningful learning and concept maps, as a method and as a tool, respectively, to organize knowledge hierarchically, from general and inclusive concepts to specific ones. This may facilitate learning and understanding of the great bulk of knowledge to be dealt with during technological courses. A proposal has been submitted for a teaching module in computer networks and also for a complete course plan. The spiral curriculum was applied during the development of learning in the classroom, where some fundamental concepts were introduced many times over, adding more details gradually. A qualitative analysis of the application of these educational proposals, including learning evaluation aspects, is also presented.     

Modelling Student Progress in Studies of Educational Effectiveness∗

It is argued that a crucial requirement in studies of educational effectiveness is the modelling of change or growth in student learning. To illustrate one approach to achieving this end, results are presented from multivariate multilevel analyses of three‐waves of data for three Grade level cohorts of students from a longitudinal study designed to explain variation in elementary school students' progress in literacy achievement. The article provides estimates of the influence of prior achievement and social background factors including ‘critical events’, on students’ progress, examines the extent to which progress can be accounted for by the grouping effects of students within classes and schools over successive years, and provides estimates of the effects of explanatory variables at the student‐and class/teacher‐levels.

     

Learning Motivation Mediates Gene-by-Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Mathematics Achievement in Early Childhood

There is accumulating evidence that genetic influences on achievement are more pronounced among children living in higher socioeconomic status homes, and that these gene-by-environment interactions occur prior to children's entry into formal schooling. We hypothesized that one pathway through which socioeconomic status promotes genetic influences on early achievement is by facilitating the processes by which children select, evoke, and attend to learning experiences that are consistent with genetically influenced individual differences in their motivation to learn. We examined this hypothesis in a nationally representative sample of approximately 650 pairs of four-year old identical and fraternal twins who were administered a measure of math achievement, and rated by their parents on a broad set of items assessing learning motivation. Results indicated a genetic link between learning motivation and math achievement that varied positively with family socioeconomic status: Genetic differences in learning motivation contributed to math achievement more strongly in more advantaged homes. Once this effect of learning motivation was controlled for, gene-by-socioeconomic status interaction on math achievement was reduced from previously significant levels, to nonsignificant levels.     

教学文化的结构要素及其对学业成绩的影响效应研究

采用结构方程模型(SEM)研究教学文化(culture of teaching)的结构要素及其对学生学业成绩的影响效应。主要有以下发现:第一,教学的有效性(effective teaching)、学生的参与性(student engagement)和学习的主动性(learning motivation)是描述教学文化的有效要素。第二,教学文化的各结构要素与学业成绩具有显著相关性。第三,教学文化结构要素对学业成绩具有层次性影响关系:教学的有效性和学生的参与性对学习的主动性具有直接显著影响效应;学习的主动性对学生的学业成绩具有显著的直接影响效应;学习的主动性在教学的有效性、学生的参与性与学生学业成绩之间存在着显著的中介性影响效应;而教学的有效性、学生的参与性两个变量对学业成绩不存在显著的直接影响效应。本研究运用实证数据揭示了教学文化发生作用的动力机制,提出构建良性的教学文化必须以提高教学的有效性为前提,以提高学生学习的主动性为中心,通过提升教与学的品质,促进学生内生性的、可持续的发展。     

How do engineering attitudes vary by gender and motivation? Attractiveness of outreach science exhibitions in four countries

ABSTRACT

Outreach activities, like mobile science exhibitions, give opportunities to hands-on experiences in an attractive learning environment. We analysed attitudes, motivation and learning during a science exhibition visit, their relations to gender and future educational plans in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Belgium (N?=?1210 sixth-graders). Pupils' performance in a knowledge test improved after the visit. Autonomous motivation and attitudes towards science predicted situation motivation awakened in the science exhibition. Interestingly, the scientist attitude and the societal attitude were clearly separate dimensions. The third dimension was manifested in the engineering attitude typical for boys, who were keener on working with appliances, designing computer games and animations. Scientist and societal attitudes correlated positively and engineering attitude correlated negatively with the future educational plans of choosing the academic track in secondary education. The societal perspective on science was connected to above average achievement. In the follow-up test, these attitudes showed to be quite stable.     

Student-centred anti-smoking education: Comparing a classroom-based and an out-of-school setting

The present study monitored a student-centred educational anti-smoking intervention with fifth graders by focusing on their cognitive achievement and intrinsic motivation. In order to assess the potential influence of the setting on self-directed learning, the intervention was conducted in two different learning environments: a classroom-based group in class at school; and an out-of-school group in an outreach setting at a youth camp. A control group didn’t experience any specific intervention. Outcomes were assessed with an achievement test and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Although in both learning settings similar cognitive levels were achieved, the out-of-school group showed a larger decrease in cognitive achievement and lower intrinsic motivation scores for interest and perceived choice. This empirical study adds new evidence to student-centred learning schemes in different learning environments, especially in an interdisciplinary context.     

A time sequence-oriented concept map approach to developing educational computer games for history courses

Concept maps have been recognized as an effective tool for students to organize their knowledge; however, in history courses, it is important for students to learn and organize historical events according to the time of their occurrence. Therefore, in this study, a time sequence-oriented concept map approach is proposed for developing a game-based environment to facilitate students' learning of historical events and their organization during the gaming process. With this approach, students can easily learn the precedence relationships among the historical events that occurred in different time periods with the time sequence-oriented concept map. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a historical role-playing game has been developed for an elementary school history course to examine the students' performance in terms of learning motivation, self-efficacy and learning achievements. A subject unit, the “Siege of Fort Zeelandia by Zheng Cheng-Gong,” was chosen as the history topic. The results show that the proposed approach can significantly enhance the students' learning achievement, but did not affect their learning motivation or self-efficacy for the history course. As a consequence, it is concluded that students can benefit from concept maps in terms of enhancing their learning achievement, but they do not necessarily enjoy using concept maps in game-based learning activities.     

Motivating Children to Learn Effectively: Exploring the Value of Intrinsic Integration in Educational Games

The concept of intrinsic motivation lies at the heart of the user engagement created by digital games. Yet despite this, educational software has traditionally attempted to harness games as extrinsic motivation by using them as a sugar coating for learning content. This article tests the concept of intrinsic integration as a way of creating a more productive relationship between educational games and their learning content. Two studies assessed this approach by designing and evaluating an educational game called Zombie Division to teach mathematics to 7- to 11-year-olds. Study 1 examined the learning gains of 58 children who played either the intrinsic, extrinsic, or control variants of Zombie Division for 2 hr, supported by their classroom teacher. Study 2 compared time on task for the intrinsic and extrinsic variants of the game when 16 children had free choice of which game to play. The results showed that children learned more from the intrinsic version of the game under fixed time limits and spent 7 times longer playing it in free-time situations. Together, these studies offer evidence for the genuine value of an intrinsic approach for creating effective educational games. The theoretical and commercial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of science–technology learning environments

During recent decades, educational research has dealt with the contribution of the learning environment to the accomplishment of educational goals, such as improvement of academic achievement and motivation. In this research, an intervention program was implemented into the learning environment of science–technology classes at the junior high school level (Grades 7–9, 12–15 years old) in Israel. The intervention included a three-year workshop involving 224 hours each year. The teachers (N = 22) were required to reflect on their experiences using a portfolio that described their actual teaching experiences for relevant discussions at the workshop. Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to examine the teachers’ implementation of new teaching/learning and assessment methods or new subject matter, that were addressed by the workshop in their classes, and to identify learning environment characteristics and learning outcomes according to teachers’ perceptions. Differences were found between teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of the impact of learning environment characteristics on learning outcomes.     

论动机监控在自我调节学习中的地位

自我调节学习是近30年来教育心理学研究领域的重要课题,绝大多数自我调节学习策略的研究仅强调学习者对学习活动认知方面的调控,很少考虑非认知(动机情感等)方面的调节。本文通过对近期国内外有关动机监控方面研究的分析,探讨了非认知调节,尤其是动机监控在自我调节学习中的地位,提出动机监控应被融入自我调节学习模型。     

Developmental aspects of reading motivation and reading achievement among second grade low achievers and typical readers

This investigation examined developmental aspects of 155 second‐graders' intrinsic reading motivation and reading achievement at the beginning and end of a school year. Reading motivation remained at the same level through the school year, while reading achievement was significantly higher at the end of it than at the beginning. According to word reading skills, low reading achievers (n = 63) and typical readers (n = 92) evinced significant differences in reading motivation. The former scored lower in overall reading motivation and self‐concept as a reader, as well as in reading achievement. Throughout the school year, low reading achievers showed a decline in overall motivation, self‐concept as a reader and literacy outloud, and did not improve in reading comprehension achievement. Reading motivation in typical readers remained high and steady during the school year. Implications of the results are discussed in relation to previous studies.     

Effects of concept-mapping-based interactive e-books on active and reflective-style students’ learning performances in junior high school law courses

Researchers have pointed out that interactive e-books have rich content and interactive features which can promote students’ learning interest. However, researchers have also indicated the need to integrate effective learning supports or tools to help students organize what they have learned so as to increase their learning performance, in particular, for abstract and complex learning content such as that in law courses. In this study, a concept-mapping-based interactive e-book learning mode was proposed. To understand the learning effects, a quasi-experimental design was used to compare the learning achievement and motivation of the students learning with the proposed approach (experimental group) and those learning with conventional interactive e-books (control group) in a junior high school fundamental law course. Meanwhile, the learning achievement and motivation of the students with different learning styles were also explored. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach significantly improved the students’ learning achievement, especially for the active-style students; moreover, it was found that the lead-in of concept mapping did not affect the students’ learning motivation. Factors that might affect the students’ learning achievement and motivation with the concept-mapping-based interactive e-book approach are discussed accordingly.     

Predicting Long‐Term Growth in Students' Mathematics Achievement: The Unique Contributions of Motivation and Cognitive Strategies

This research examined how motivation (perceived control, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation), cognitive learning strategies (deep and surface strategies), and intelligence jointly predict long‐term growth in students' mathematics achievement over 5 years. Using longitudinal data from six annual waves (Grades 5 through 10; M_age = 11.7 years at baseline; N = 3,530), latent growth curve modeling was employed to analyze growth in achievement. Results showed that the initial level of achievement was strongly related to intelligence, with motivation and cognitive strategies explaining additional variance. In contrast, intelligence had no relation with the growth of achievement over years, whereas motivation and learning strategies were predictors of growth. These findings highlight the importance of motivation and learning strategies in facilitating adolescents' development of mathematical competencies.     

Approach–avoidance motivation and metacognitive self-regulation: The role of need for achievement and fear of failure

Previous research has indicated that approach–avoidance motivation at the achievement goal level influences the quality of self-regulated learning. Additionally, research indicates that approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level is associated with cognitive self-regulated learning strategy use. The present investigation sought to extend this research by examining the relationship between approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level and metacognitive self-regulation, as well as the mediational potential of approach–avoidance achievement goals among a sample of undergraduate students (N = 145). Results indicated that need for achievement was significantly related to metacognitive self-regulation and mastery-approach goals partially mediated this relationship. Fear of failure was negatively associated with metacognitive self-regulation; however, performance-avoidance goals did not mediate this relationship. The significance of such individual differences in metacognitive self-regulation is discussed.