Search

In a three-study investigation, we pursued three purposes: (1) extend self-determination theory’s dual-process model to a new tripartite model—to recognize that environmental conditions sometimes render a psychological need dormant; (2) better explain adolescents’ diminished functioning; and (3) develop the Three States Questionnaire (TSQ). In Study 1, 402 high schoolers reported the satisfied, frustrated, and dormant state of their psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) during classroom instruction to develop the TSQ. In Study 2, 320 high schoolers reported their satisfied, frustrated, and dormant states as well as 17 indicators of their effective, defiant, and diminished classroom functioning. The TSQ showed excellent psychometric properties, and the predictive power of the tripartite model was superior to that of the dual-process model in the prediction of all five indicators of diminished functioning (e.g., disengagement). In Study 3, 457 high schoolers’ perceived teachers’ motivating styles (supporting, controlling, and neglecting) predicted their three need states (satisfied, frustrated, and dormant), which predicted the quality of their classroom functioning (effective, defiant, and diminished). Overall, the dormant state was distinct from the other two states, it uniquely explained diminished functioning, and the tripartite model out-predicted the dual-process model.

Often, educational and psychological theories stand independently of one another, focusing on particular, discreet components of learning or motivation. However, there are many similarities between invitational educational theory, which examines motivation and education, and self-determination theory, a theory of motivation and personality. Both theories, when applied to educational settings, value respectful relationships between teachers and students. They encourage practitioners to incorporate choice into their plans and recognize the importance of a person’s perception to that person’s related behavior. Invitational education theory and selfdetermination theory were developed separately by different researchers. However, the two theories emerged during the early 1970s, at a time when educators and psychologists were rejecting behaviorism and, instead, beginning to value a humancentered approach. This paper aims to introduce invitational education and selfdetermination theory, describe their origins from a similar place and time via humanistic psychology, and highlight key similarities in their beliefs with the ultimate goal of enhancing knowledge in order to continue to improve classrooms world-wide.

Promoting students’ ability to transfer or apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations is critical in higher education. The current study was designed to test the likelihood that the constructs based on self-determination theory (SDT) framework help understand college students’ perceived knowledge transferability. A total of 3783 undergraduates from 301 classes participated in this study. The results of a series of multilevel modeling analyses indicated that (a) competence satisfaction and identification were the most salient factors influencing students’ perceived knowledge transferability; (b) the SDT-related variables together explained 64.2% of the between-student variance in perceived knowledge transferability; (c) after controlling for student-level covariates and SDT-related variables, 7.9% of the variance in perceived knowledge transferability was caused by between-class differences, and 19.6% of it could be explained by course fields and course levels. Our results, which provide evidence of multilevel factors influencing college students’ perceived knowledge transferability, have implications for promoting transfer in higher education.

Potential to learn quickly cannot offset the effects on learning of disinterest, apathy, or avoidance—motivational problems that affect gifted and nongifted students alike. The predominant theories of motivation are social-cognitive. A change in classroom composition may bring a different reference group—such as when a gifted student moves from an academically heterogeneous classroom to a selective high-ability or gifted program—and often leads to the Big Fish Little Pond Effect (BFLPE). The BFLPE predicts that students will have a high self-concept if they are placed with students who have lower achievement than they have, but that their self-concept will decrease if they are placed in a class of high-performing students. The development of gifted students' self-efficacy is associated with intersections between their cultural contexts and previous experiences. People are motivated to engage in activities they find valuable.

The distinction between the bright and the dark sides of basic psychological needs has been documented in face-to-face contexts. However, no one has examined the distinctive effects of need satisfaction and need dissatisfaction in online learning contexts. First, we validated the Basic Psychological Needs Scale among 693 undergraduates in online courses. However, we found one autonomy item and two relatedness items might need modifications to fit the online learning contexts. Second, we tested a motivation and learning model with both online (495 undergraduates) and face-to-face (519 undergraduates) samples. Consistent with previous findings in face-to-face contexts, need satisfaction and need dissatisfaction demonstrated distinctive effects on students' motivation and learning outcomes in online learning contexts. The current research contributes to the developing field of online learning by applying BPN into the online courses and comparing the motivation model between online and face-to-face learning contexts.

This study examines the impact on student performance after interactive and non-interactive tutorials using a 2 × 2 treatment-control design. In an undergraduate management course, a control group watched a video tutorial while the treatment group received the same content using a dynamic tutorial. Both groups received the same quiz questions. Using effect size to determine magnitude of change, it was found that those in the treatment condition performed better than those in the control condition. Students were able to take the quiz up to two times. When examining for change in performance from attempt one to attempt two, the treatment group showed a greater magnitude of change. Students who consistently performed lowest on the quizzes outperformed all students in learning gains.

Engineering technology students either are studied under the auspices of research focused on engineering students, or are excluded from engineering research in its entirety. Even when they are included in research, our understanding of engineering technology students is either missing or obscured. The lack of available research focused on engineering technology students in particular has prompted an effort to contribute to the greater body of knowledge of engineering technology education. The lack of research, as compared to other STEM fields, presents a challenge to practitioners in engineering technology programs when making discipline-specific decisions regarding these particular students. The need to delineate and determine the differences in the engineering technology student population and that of the engineering student population has become increasingly evident to practitioners and researchers in the technology area. To explore the learning styles of the engineering and engineering technology students, the Gregorc Style Delineator was completed by students in both programs. This instrument is relatively well known and is designed to investigate how adults order their thoughts and perceive the world around them. This study is designed to understand the differences in the engineering technology and engineering student populations by examining their mediation channels and their psychological learning styles. By furthering our conceptual understanding of both populations, we will inform those involved with teaching, curriculum development, and administration of programs how to best interact with and teach these students. Engineering technology students think differently than engineering students and that should be reflected in how we teach them.

We investigated the role of three beliefs in predicting teachers’ motivating style toward students—namely, how effective, how normative, and how easy-to-implement autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching were each believed to be. We further examined national collectivism–individualism as a predictor of individual teachers’ motivating style and beliefs about motivating style, as we expected that a collectivistic perspective would tend teachers toward the controlling style and toward positive beliefs about that style. Participants were 815 full-time PreK-12 public school teachers from eight different nations that varied in collectivism–individualism. All three teacher beliefs explained independent and substantial variance in teachers’ self-described motivating styles. Believed effectiveness was a particularly strong predictor of self-described motivating style. Collectivism–individualism predicted which teachers were most likely to self-describe a controlling motivating style, and a mediation analysis showed that teachers in collectivistic nations self-described a controlling style because they believed it to be culturally normative classroom practice. These findings enhance the literature on the antecedents of teachers’ motivating styles by showing that teacher beliefs strongly predict motivating style, and that culture informs one of these beliefs—namely, normalcy.