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The effects of three interventions designed to boost academic achievement among mastery-oriented students were evaluated on interest-based studying, social desirability, and perceived goal difficulty. Undergraduate students (N = 177) completed relevant self-report measures at the beginning and the end of the semester and were randomly assigned to one of three brief, web-based intervention conditions or a control condition. Multiple regression analyses showed the intervention conditions to consistently predict lower levels of interest-based studying, with these effects moderated by students' prior achievement and mastery-approach goals. Qualitative analyses provide insight into the motivationally relevant processes elicited by the interventions.

Understanding how prepared teachers are to use technology to enhance their teaching can assist researchers to support them better, yet the theoretical basis for understanding teachers' self-beliefs is in need of stronger empirical support. The first objective of this study was to replicate and extend prior research that empirically tested portions of the technology acceptance model (TAM) amongst pre-service teachers. The second objective was to empirically test an alternative set of antecedents of behavioural intentions to use technology based on the expectancy-value theory (EVT). Four theoretical models were tested using structural equation modelling with a sample of pre-service teachers (N = 249). Results provide support for the TAM and the extended TAM models, however, no support was found for the combined EVT and TAM models. We discuss the implications to promote teacher integration of technology in the classroom by creating facilitating conditions.

The rapid shift to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of motivationally enhanced and emotionally supportive instruction during this stressful time. In this paper we demonstrate how five theoretically situated and empirically supported motivational design principles can be used to create effective online instructional practices. We provide an example of how these principles can be used to develop a screencasting assignment for pre-service teacher education students via distance learning and briefly discuss the positive response from students. Future avenues for research, practice, and practitioner-researcher collaborations are proposed.

Though documented extensively using self-report measures—especially in post-secondary course contexts—the relations among students' interest, engagement, and academic achievement in high school science courses has been studied far less—especially when considering online versions of these courses. Self-reported interest collected at the beginning of the semester, process measures of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive engagement measured with textual analysis using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) measures of online discussion threads and time spent on the learning management system were collected throughout the semester, and final course grades were collected at the end of the semester. A sample of 622 high school students were recruited from five STEM courses to participate in this study. Results indicate that interest predicts behavioural engagement, behavioural and cognitive engagement predict final course grade, and interest predicts final course grade. Findings extend research by describing the role of engagement in online high school STEM courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research is needed to explore conceptual change in relation to achievement goal orientations and depth of processing. Aims: To address this need, we examined relations between achievement goals, use of deep versus shallow processing strategies, and conceptual change learning using a think-aloud protocol. Sample and Method: Seventy-three undergraduate students were assessed on their prior knowledge and misconceptions about Newtonian mechanics, and then reported their achievement goals and participated in think-aloud protocols while reading Newtonian physics texts. Results: A mastery-approach goal orientation positively predicted deep processing strategies, shallow processing strategies, and conceptual change. In contrast, a performance-approach goal orientation did not predict either of the processing strategies, but negatively predicted conceptual change. A performance-avoidance goal orientation negatively predicted deep processing strategies and conceptual change. Moreover, deep and shallow processing strategies positively predicted conceptual change as well as recall. Finally, both deep and shallow processing strategies mediated relations between mastery-approach goals and conceptual change. Conclusions: Results provide some support for Dole and Sinatra's (1998) Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model of conceptual change but also challenge specific facets with regard to the role of depth of processing in conceptual change. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

The authors explored whether manipulating feedback influenced cognition, motivation, and achievement in an undergraduate chemistry course. They measured students' ("N" = 250) achievement goals, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognitive strategy use at the beginning and end of the semester. After completing the first set of questionnaires, students were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) control, (b) mastery feedback, (c) performance-approach feedback, and (d) combined mastery/performance-approach feedback. In each condition, students received a raw performance score for each weekly quiz they completed online and, for the treatment conditions, additional feedback reflective of that specific feedback condition. Results provide evidence for the multiple goals perspective (specialized pattern) wherein performance-oriented feedback was beneficial for some outcomes, whereas mastery feedback was beneficial for other outcomes.

The rapid shift to online instruction in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic underscores the importance of motivationally enhanced and emotionally supportive instruction during this stressful time. In this paper we demonstrate how five theoretically situated and empirically supported motivational design principles can be used to create effective online instructional practices. We provide an example of how these principles can be used to develop a screencasting assignment for pre-service teacher education students via distance learning and briefly discuss the positive response from students. Future avenues for research, practice, and practitioner-researcher collaborations are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this field experiment was to understand whether fifth and sixth-grade students were able to write about the usefulness and relevance of what they were learning in their science class through self-generated reflections and to examine the impacts of this activity on students’ value, utility value, and interest for science. Analysis of students’ essays revealed in the self-generated reflection condition students connected what they were learning to their lives significantly more than the control condition. Linguistically, student essays did not differ between the two conditions, except for cognitive processing. Self-reflecting increased students’ utility value but not value nor interest. Self-efficacy did not moderate these relations. Implications for extending self-generated utility value and broader social-psychological interventions for early adolescent students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]