Student Learning in Science Classrooms: What Role Does Motivation Play?

Abstract

One of the major goals of science education today is the attainment of scientific literacy, which includes deeper conceptual understanding of key scientific principles and ideas, the ability to apply scientific knowledge in real-life contexts, as well as the ability to identify problems and conduct scientific inquiry (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994; Marx et al, 1997). In examining the antecedents of scientific literacy, one fruitful avenue of research has been the work on student cognition. In particular, this work has underscored the affordances and constraints of prior knowledge influencing conceptual change. These cognitive models of learning have focused mainly on factors such as encoding, automatization, and metacognitive strategies, which have been found in laboratory studies to play a critical role in the conceptual change process. However, there is a need to also consider noncognitive factors such as students’ motivational beliefs, especially when examining students’ cognitive engagement in academic classrooms (Pintrich et al., 1993; Zusho et al, 2003). Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the value of motivation within science education. It is important to note that we conceptualize motivation in this chapter more as a process, rather than as a product. Drawing on recent research from social–cognitive and situated perspectives, we stress the multidimensional nature of motivation and examine how motivational processes are influenced by classroom contextual factors. In short, we do not consider motivation to be a general trait, with some students more and others less motivated along a general quantitative continuum. Rather, we assume student motivation to be situated and changeable as a function of instruction, tasks, and activities that take place in a classroom. In considering the relation between motivation and achievement, we propose two general ways in which motivational beliefs can influence positive academic outcomes (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002). First, motivational beliefs can be thought to “mediate” the relation between certain instructional strategies and achievement (see Figure 1a). For example, the implementation of a new inquiry-based curriculum can result in students becoming more interested in science, which ultimately could lead to higher levels of achievement. In short, this view assumes that “good” instruction should lead to more adaptive motivational processes, which should in turn lead to positive academic outcomes (Stipek, 2001).