November 15, 2023
"Self-efficacy and achievement goals represent two extensively researched motivational factors in education [though] little is known about how they relate to different types of problem-solving."
Key Takeaways
- Motivation in sixth-grade science learning is related to specific forms of problem-solving
- Increasing students' self-efficacy may improve students' conceptual problem-solving
- Feedback, goal setting, and assessment are ways instructors can increase students' self-efficacy
A major goal for science education is for students to go beyond rote learning of problem-solving procedures, to learn a set of underlying concepts ready-for-use in new situations. Although existing research has primarily approached this issue from a cognitive standpoint and has examined the impact of motivational factors on learning and academic success, little has been done to examine how students' motivations are related to types of different problem-solving skills.
To bridge this gap, graduate student researcher Kelly Boden and her LRDC colleagues explored the relations between motivational factors and science learning in middle-school. They examined how self-efficacy and achievement goals relate to procedural and conceptual problem-solving. Self-efficacy refers to one's belief in oneself to accomplish a task; achievement goals are the reasons why one undertakes that task. Achievement goals are further delineated into: mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance. Both self-efficacy and achievement goals have been shown to be important predictors of students' learning.
The study involved 76 sixth-grade science students from two classrooms within the same charter district. Both classrooms taught the students an identical unit on force and motion. Students completed a pre-motivational survey and procedural and conceptual pretests. They completed motivational task surveys throughout the unit. A posttest was given approximately 6.5 weeks following the initial pretest, and a post-motivational survey was administered roughly 1.5 weeks later.
The researchers found that motivation in science was related to specific aspects of problem-solving learning. Self-efficacy was a significant predictor of subsequent conceptual performance even when accounting for conceptual pretest performance, implying that students' confidence in their abilities goes beyond merely reflecting their existing knowledge. However, self-efficacy did not predict procedural performance when accounting for prior knowledge. Students may perceive their efficacy in terms of procedural rather than conceptual competence. Although the researchers were surprised to find no correlation between achievement goals and either procedural or conceptual performance, further analyses revealed a connection between changes in mastery-approach goals and changes in self-efficacy, even when accounting for prior knowledge.
These findings suggest that interventions focusing on enhancing self-efficacy may improve students' conceptual problem-solving and that instructional practices that promote deep, conceptual learning may contribute to both enhanced self-efficacy and improved problem-solving.
Read the full paper published in The Journal of Educational Research.
Boden, K., Kuo, E., Nokes-Malach, T., J., Wallace, T., & Menekse, M. (2023). Investigating the Predictive Relations between Self-efficacy and Achievement Goals on Procedural and Conceptual Science Learning. The Journal of Educational Research.
LRDC Featured Brief "Investigating the Predictive Relations between Self-efficacy and Achievement Goals on Procedural and Conceptual Science Learning," created by Sarah Liez