Abstract
Interactive and adaptive scaffolds implemented in electronic mathematics textbooks bear high potential for supporting students individually in learning mathematics. In this paper, we argue that emotional and behavioral engagement may account for the effectiveness of such digital curriculum resources. Following the general model for determinants and course of motivated action, we investigated the relationship between students’ domain-specific motivational and emotional orientations (person)—while working with an electronic textbook on fractions (situation), their emotional and behavioral engagement while learning (action), and their achievement after tuition (outcome). We conducted a case-study withN= 27 students from one sixth-grade classroom, asking about the relationship between students’ motivational and emotional orientations and their emotional and behavioral engagement, and whether emotional and behavioral engagement are unique predictors of students’ cognitive learning outcomes while working with an e-textbook. For that, we designed a four-week-intervention on fractions using an e-textbook on iPads. Utilizing self-reports and process data referring to students’ interactions with the e-textbook we aimed to describe if and how students make use of the offered learning opportunities. Despite being taught in the same classroom, results indicated large variance in students’ motivational and emotional orientations before the intervention, as well as in their emotional and behavioral engagement during the intervention. We found substantial correlations between motivational and emotional orientations (i.e., anxiety, self-concept, and enjoyment) and emotional engagement (i.e., intrinsic motivation, competence and autonomy support, situational interest, and perceived demand)—with positive orientations being associated with positive emotional engagement, as expected. Although the correlations between orientations and behavioral engagement (i.e., task, exercise, and hint count, problem solving time, and feedback time) also showed the expected directions, effect sizes were smaller than for emotional engagement. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that emotional engagement predicted cognitive learning outcomes uniquely, while for behavioral engagement the interaction with prior knowledge was a significant predictor. Taken together, they accounted for a variance change of 44% in addition to prior knowledge. We conclude that when designing digital learning environments, promoting engagement—in particular in students who share less-promizing prerequisites—should be considered a key feature.
Highlights
Implementation of digital media in classrooms is one central goal of recent educational policies and of global interest in research on teaching and learning— in times of increased use of digital learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic
We investigated the relationship between students‘ domain-specific motivational and emotional orientations, and their emotional and behavioral engagement while learning mathematics with digital media in classrooms
For RQ1, we investigated correlations between motivational and emotional orientations and emotional engagement, as well as behavioral engagement
Summary
Implementation of digital media in classrooms is one central goal of recent educational policies and of global interest in research on teaching and learning— in times of increased use of digital learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research supports the hypothesis that the use of technology in secondary school mathematics and science supports students’ cognitive learning outcomes (i.e., better acquisition of conceptual and procedural knowledge of the content), yet the effectiveness of interventions varies largely and is dependent on how digital media is implemented in classrooms (Hillmayr et al, 2020). Recent meta-analyses revealed that the effectiveness of interventions on motivation and attitudes depends considerably on the specific conditions of the implementation of digital media into mathematics classrooms (Higgins et al, 2019). Bringing together these two recent metanalytical studies (Higgins et al, 2019; Hillmayr et al, 2020), it becomes apparent that effects of implementing digital media into classrooms moderate both, cognitive and noncognitive learning outcomes
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