Project Investigator(s): Jeanette Leeuwner, Science Education Specialist, Department of Chemistry
Project Description
Motivation impacts the direction, determination and quality of students’ actions during their learning process. ‘How Learning Works’ presents a theoretical framework of 3 elements that impact motivation: self-efficacy, value and the learning environment. The framework includes student behaviors that result from the interactions between these elements: rejecting, evading, hopeless, defiant, fragile, motivated. This project will test the validity of the framework, and put it into practice by developing a tool to measure the 3 elements, overall motivation, and resultant student behavior. Being able to monitor student motivation and behavior will empower instructors to encourage learning motivation, through appropriate feedback and interventions.
Research Questions
1. What factors do students identify as factors that impact their learning motivation in Chemistry? What differences are there in these factors in an online teaching environment? Do the identified factors reflect the 3 elements of the motivation framework?
2. Tool development: What literature tools are available to assist/inform tool development? How can students’ motivation be mapped/measured with respect to the 3 elements of the framework? Does measured motivation map to the student behaviors of the theoretical motivation framework?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
The application and verification of motivation theories in science/chemistry education, especially at university level, is somewhat sparse. Project results, and the developed tool, could be used to inform first year chemistry teaching at UBC and other institutions, and could possibly be extended to other year levels or other fields of science. Ultimately, learning motivation is also a concept that is universal to all fields of study. Contributions to the field of learning motivation could improve our understanding of the concept and help to advance its utilization in higher education in general.