Primary school students' motivational profiles in longitudinal settings

Abstract

There has been an increasing effort to integrate use of self‐reports and a more profile‐oriented approach with observations and interviews conducted during the actual learning process. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how students with different goal orientation profiles involve themselves in actual learning situations over four years in a context of inquiry learning. Twenty‐one primary school students participated in inquiry learning projects during four school years. Two types of data were collected: student self‐report questionnaires on goal orientations, and video data on the students' learning and social interaction processes. Analyses showed that scaffolds are especially needed in inquiry learning and they should not only concern students' cognitive level of achievement, but also their motivational and affective levels. Observational and longitudinal data gathered from natural classroom learning situations is relevant for use to better understand the complex concept of motivation in learning.