Matching Items (7)
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- All Subjects: Motivation
- Creators: Husman, Jenefer
- Creators: Atkinson, Robert K
Description
This study empirically evaluated the effectiveness of the instructional design, learning tools, and role of the teacher in three versions of a semester-long, high-school remedial Algebra I course to determine what impact self-regulated learning skills and learning pattern training have on students' self-regulation, math achievement, and motivation. The 1st version was a business-as-usual traditional classroom teaching mathematics with direct instruction. The 2rd version of the course provided students with self-paced, individualized Algebra instruction with a web-based, intelligent tutor. The 3rd version of the course coupled self-paced, individualized instruction on the web-based, intelligent Algebra tutor coupled with a series of e-learning modules on self-regulated learning knowledge and skills that were distributed throughout the semester. A quasi-experimental, mixed methods evaluation design was used by assigning pre-registered, high-school remedial Algebra I class periods made up of an approximately equal number of students to one of the three study conditions or course versions: (a) the control course design, (b) web-based, intelligent tutor only course design, and (c) web-based, intelligent tutor + SRL e-learning modules course design. While no statistically significant differences on SRL skills, math achievement or motivation were found between the three conditions, effect-size estimates provide suggestive evidence that using the SRL e-learning modules based on ARCS motivation model (Keller, 2010) and Let Me Learn learning pattern instruction (Dawkins, Kottkamp, & Johnston, 2010) may help students regulate their learning and improve their study skills while using a web-based, intelligent Algebra tutor as evidenced by positive impacts on math achievement, motivation, and self-regulated learning skills. The study also explored predictive analyses using multiple regression and found that predictive models based on independent variables aligned to student demographics, learning mastery skills, and ARCS motivational factors are helpful in defining how to further refine course design and design learning evaluations that measure achievement, motivation, and self-regulated learning in web-based learning environments, including intelligent tutoring systems.
ContributorsBarrus, Angela (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Van de Sande, Carla (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Researchers have postulated that math academic achievement increases student success in college (Lee, 2012; Silverman & Seidman, 2011; Vigdor, 2013), yet 80% of universities and 98% of community colleges require many of their first-year students to be placed in remedial courses (Bettinger & Long, 2009). Many high school graduates are entering college ill prepared for the rigors of higher education, lacking understanding of basic and important principles (ACT, 2012). The desire to increase academic achievement is a wide held aspiration in education and the idea of adapting instruction to individuals is one approach to accomplish this goal (Lalley & Gentile, 2009a). Frequently, adaptive learning environments rely on a mastery learning approach, it is thought that when students are afforded the opportunity to master the material, deeper and more meaningful learning is likely to occur. Researchers generally agree that the learning environment, the teaching approach, and the students' attributes are all important to understanding the conditions that promote academic achievement (Bandura, 1977; Bloom, 1968; Guskey, 2010; Cassen, Feinstein & Graham, 2008; Changeiywo, Wambugu & Wachanga, 2011; Lee, 2012; Schunk, 1991; Van Dinther, Dochy & Segers, 2011). The present study investigated the role of college students' affective attributes and skills, such as academic competence and academic resilience, in an adaptive mastery-based learning environment on their academic performance, while enrolled in a remedial mathematics course. The results showed that the combined influence of students' affective attributes and academic resilience had a statistically significant effect on students' academic performance. Further, the mastery-based learning environment also had a significant effect on their academic competence and academic performance.
ContributorsFoshee, Cecile Mary (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Elliott, Stephen N. (Committee member) / Horan, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) careers have been touted as critical to the success of our nation and also provide important opportunities for access and equity of underrepresented minorities (URM's). Community colleges serve a diverse population and a large number of undergraduates currently enrolled in college, they are well situated to help address the increasing STEM workforce demands. Geoscience is a discipline that draws great interest, but has very low representation of URM's as majors. What factors influence a student's decision to major in the geosciences and are community college students different from research universities in what factors influence these decisions? Through a survey-design mixed with classroom observations, structural equation model was employed to predict a student's intent to persist in introductory geology based on student expectancy for success in their geology class, math self-concept, and interest in the content. A measure of classroom pedagogy was also used to determine if instructor played a role in predicting student intent to persist. The targeted population was introductory geology students participating in the Geoscience Affective Research NETwork (GARNET) project, a national sampling of students in enrolled in introductory geology courses. Results from SEM analysis indicated that interest was the primary predictor in a students intent to persist in the geosciences for both community college and research university students. In addition, self-efficacy appeared to be mediated by interest within these models. Classroom pedagogy impacted how much interest was needed to predict intent to persist, in which as classrooms became more student centered, less interest was required to predict intent to persist. Lastly, math self-concept did not predict student intent to persist in the geosciences, however, it did share variance with self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs, indicating it may play a moderating effect on student interest and self-efficacy. Implications of this work are that while community college students and research university students are different in demographics and content preparation, student-centered instruction continues to be the best way to support student's interest in the sciences. Future work includes examining how math self-concept may play a role in longitudinal persistence in the geosciences.
ContributorsKraft, Katrien J. van der Hoeven (Author) / Husman, Jenefer (Thesis advisor) / Semken, Steven (Thesis advisor) / Baker, Dale R. (Committee member) / McConnell, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Writing instruction poses both cognitive and affective challenges, particularly for adolescents. American teens not only fall short of national writing standards, but also tend to lack motivation for school writing, claiming it is too challenging and that they have nothing interesting to write about. Yet, teens enthusiastically immerse themselves in informal writing via text messaging, email, and social media, regularly sharing their thoughts and experiences with a real audience. While these activities are, in fact, writing, research indicates that teens instead view them as simply "communication" or "being social." Accordingly, the aim of this work was to infuse formal classroom writing with naturally engaging elements of informal social media writing to positively impact writing quality and the motivation to write, resulting in the development and implementation of Sparkfolio, an online prewriting tool that: a) addresses affective challenges by allowing students to choose personally relevant topics using their own social media data; and b) provides cognitive support with a planner that helps develop and organize ideas in preparation for writing a first draft. This tool was evaluated in a study involving 46 eleventh-grade English students writing three personal narratives each, and including three experimental conditions: a) using self-authored social media post data while planning with Sparkfolio; b) using only data from posts authored by one's friends while planning with Sparkfolio; and c) a control group that did not use Sparkfolio. The dependent variables were the change in writing motivation and the change in writing quality that occurred before and after the intervention. A scaled pre/posttest measured writing motivation, and the first and third narratives were used as writing quality pre/posttests. A usability scale, logged Sparkfolio data, and qualitative measures were also analyzed. Results indicated that participants who used Sparkfolio had statistically significantly higher gains in writing quality than the control group, validating Sparkfolio as effective. Additionally, while nonsignificant, results suggested that planning with self-authored data provided more writing quality and motivational benefits than data authored by others. This work provides initial empirical evidence that leveraging students' own social media data (securely) holds potential in fostering meaningful personalized learning.
ContributorsSadauskas, John (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Liu, Huan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The high rate of teacher turnover in the United States has prompted a number of studies into why teachers leave as well as why they stay. The present study aims to add to that knowledge specifically regarding why teachers choose to stay at urban schools. Several reasons teachers in general choose to stay have been identified in previous studies including faith in their students, continuing hope and sense of responsibility, and love among others. The importance of such a study is the possibility of designing programs that reinforce teacher success through understanding the personal and professional reasons teachers choose to stay. Getting teachers to stay is important to the nation's goal of providing equity in science education to all children. Important to this research is an understanding of motivational theories. Already a challenge in the over-busy modern world, the ability to self-motivate and motivate others is of particular importance to teachers in urban schools as well as teachers struggling against restrictive budgets. Studies have shown teachers extrinsically motivated will need external rewards to encourage them while teachers who are intrinsically motivated will have their own internal reasons such as satisfaction in contributing to the future, self-actualization, or the joy of accomplishment. Some studies have suggested that teachers who decide to remain teaching tend to be intrinsic motivators. Unfortunately, the environment in most Western country educational systems presents a challenge to achieving these intrinsic goals. As a result, self-determination theory should play a significant role in shaping educational programs. The following study examined the perspectives of secondary school science teachers, specifically regarding why they opted to remain within the classroom in urban districts. It was conducted utilizing interviews and surveys of teachers working within urban school districts in Arizona and California. The sample consisted of 94 science teachers. More than half of the participants were White females and 36 percent of them had been teaching for more than 15 years. Participation in the study was based on self-selected volunteerism. Survey questions were based on self-determination theory and used Likert scale responses. Follow-up audiotaped interview requested information regarding identity and their social interaction within the urban settings. The survey responses were analyzed using SPSS for descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and linear regression. The results of this study provide insight on what works to motivate science teachers to continue teaching in less than ideal school settings and with such high bureaucratic impediments as standardized testing and school rating systems. It demonstrates that science teachers do seem to be intrinsically motivated and suggests some areas in which this motivation can be fostered. Such results could help in the development of teacher support groups, professional development programs, or other programs designed to assist teachers struggling to deal with the specific problems and needs of inner city school students.
ContributorsAlhashem, Fatimah (Author) / Baker, Dale (Thesis advisor) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Husman, Jenefer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
An investigation of academic achievement and achievement motivation in children with cystic fibrosis
Description
Cystic Fibrosis, one of the most severe childhood life-shortening illnesses, places demands on a child's life conceivably interfering with his or her academic success. It is possible that the medically related activities in which individuals with CF partake interfere with academic activities and the motivation, specifically beliefs, expectancies, and values held, toward those activities. These issues encouraged the investigation of academic achievement and achievement motivation in children with CF through exploration of three research questions. Question one concerns differences in academic achievement between children with CF and a healthy comparison group for 1) reading and 2) math. Question two explored differences in aspects of motivation including ability beliefs, outcome expectancies, and task values between the groups for the two academic subjects. Finally, question three examined the relationship between motivational components and academic achievement. Evidence is provided for differences in math achievement between the two groups. Differences in motivation between children with CF and healthy children remain unsubstantiated.
ContributorsHall, Morgan (Author) / Gorin, Joanna (Thesis advisor) / Wodrich, David (Committee member) / Husman, Jenefer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
In the United States, recreational female golfers give up golf at twice the rate of recreational male golfers. This study explored the causal attributions of 240 recreational golfers after a practice session at a public golf facility. Attributions can be adaptive or maladaptive after a performance and can influence subsequent motivation to engage in a similar task again. It was hypothesized that male and female golfers would make significantly different attributions for their performance and that female golfers' attributions would be maladaptive. As the attrition rate for female golfers is highest in the first five years, it is also hypothesized that women's attributions will become more adaptive over time and that attributions will be moderated by the number of years playing golf and perceived level of success. A survey was used to measure golfers' attributions and general questions provided data for the number of years playing golf and gender. The subscales in the attribution survey were internal control, external control and stability. Attributions are adaptive or maladaptive depending on the level of perceived success, so success of the practice performance was collected. The hypothesis that recreational female golfers make significantly different attributions than recreational male golfers was supported only by the external control sub-scale. Female golfers perceived their performance as significantly less successful than male golfers. Considering this perception of success, women golfers' attributions were maladaptive. The hypothesis that women golfers' attributions become more adaptive over time was supported. Time playing golf predicted a significant amount of variance for internal attributions of female golfers. However, the hypothesis that attributions will be moderated by the number of years playing golf and perceived success was not supported.
ContributorsShapcott, Susan (Author) / Husman, Jenefer (Thesis advisor) / Brem, Sarah (Committee member) / Mean, Lindsey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010