An official website of the United States government
Students, instructors, and policy makers are in need of research-based recommendations for supporting students’ motivation to pursue STEM fields. The present study addressed this need by examining relations between perceived motivational supports, year-long trajectories of expectancy for success and three task values, and grades among students ( N = 1,021) in a large, gateway engineering course. Results indicated that students with higher motivation at the beginning of the year tended to perceive their class as more motivationally supportive. Controlling for relations between initial motivation and perceptions, perceived instructional supports for mastery goals, autonomy, and competence predicted more positive trajectories of all three task values. Conversely, higher perceived instructor performance goals negatively predicted grades and the slopes of self-efficacy and interest value. Results contribute key understanding about the interconnectedness of individual motivation and climate perceptions, while indicating the importance students place on certain motivationally supportive practices in promoting students’ STEM motivation trajectories.
more »
« less
Predicting the quality of preservice early childhood teachers’ lesson plans using cognitive and motivational challenges
To use robots within early childhood education requires the preparation of early childhood teachers to use and teach block-based programming. We used a hierarchical linear model approach to address our research question: How can study cohort, cognitive challenge types, and motivational challenge types be used to predict lesson plan quality? Positive motivational challenge predictors were task value of programming, task value of teaching, mastery goals of programming, belonging in teaching, and autonomy in robotics. Negative motivational challenge predictors were mastery goals of teaching, belonging in robotics, self-efficacy in teaching, autonomy in programming, and autonomy in teaching. Positive cognitive challenge predictors were technical issues, problem solving - higher-order skills, and lesson design - other issues.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1906059
- PAR ID:
- 10472071
- Publisher / Repository:
- 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Chicago, IL
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This article reports the analysis of data from five different studies to identify predictors of preservice, early childhood teachers’ views of (a) the nature of coding, (b) integration of coding into preschool classrooms, and (c) relation of coding to fields other than computer science (CS). Significant changes in views of coding were predicted by time, prior robot programming experience, and perceptions of the value of coding. Notably, prior programming knowledge and positive perceptions of mathematics predicted decreases in views of coding from pre- to post-survey.more » « less
-
This paper presents a work-in-progress on a learning system that will provide robotics students with a personalized learning environment. This addresses both the scarcity of skilled robotics instructors, particularly in community colleges and the expensive demand for training equipment. The study of robotics at the college level represents a wide range of interests, experiences, and aims. This project works to provide students the flexibility to adapt their learning to their own goals and prior experience. We are developing a system to enable robotics instruction through a web-based interface that is compatible with less expensive hardware. Therefore, the free distribution of teaching materials will empower educators. This project has the potential to increase the number of robotics courses offered at both two- and four-year schools and universities. The course materials are being designed with small units and a hierarchical dependency tree in mind; students will be able to customize their course of study based on the robotics skills they have already mastered. We present an evaluation of a five module mini-course in robotics. Students indicated that they had a positive experience with the online content. They also scored the experience highly on relatedness, mastery, and autonomy perspectives, demonstrating strong motivation potential for this approach.more » « less
-
It is often said that computer science is for all students. This implies that it is also for early childhood students, including preschoolers, kindergarteners, and early elementary schoolers. To integrate computer science education into early childhood education, it is necessary to prepare early childhood teachers to do so. In this study, we investigated how and why 15 preservice, early childhood teachers reacted to and addressed challenges when creating block-based programming to control robots. Data sources included classroom recordings, interviews, lesson artifacts, and questionnaires. Analysis strategies included open and axial coding. Findings on hypothesis generation, guess-and-check practice, stereotypical conception, and adaptive attribution to success in programming are discussed.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)The COVID-19 induced school shutdown dramatically decreased students’ hands-on STEM learning opportunities. An NSF-funded program partnering preservice teachers and undergraduate engineering students to teach robotics to fifth graders was adapted to a virtual format via Zoom. A case study intimately explored one team’s experience as they engineered bio-inspired robots over five weekly sessions. Zoom recordings, written reflections, and lesson slides were analyzed to describe how the virtual context shaped the lesson and influenced the preservice teacher’s experience. All three participants successfully engineered a robotic flower indicating hands-on robotics instruction is feasible in an online format. The virtual context increased the preservice teacher’s responsibilities and sense of autonomy, and appeared to positively influence her knowledge and self-efficacy. Despite technical challenges, positive outcomes suggest the approach is worth repeating. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study examining a virtual robotics lesson co-taught by a preservice teacher and an engineering student.more » « less
