Skill and will: The role of motivation and cognition in the learning of college chemistry

Abstract

This study investigated how students' level of motivation and use of specific cognitive and self-regulatory strategies changed over time, and how these motivational and cognitive components in turn predicted students' course performance in chemistry. Participants were 458 students enrolled in introductory college chemistry classes. Participants' motivation and strategy use were assessed at three time points over the course of one semester using self-report instruments. Results showed an overall decline in students' motivational levels over time. There was also a decline in students' use of rehearsal and elaboration strategies over time; students' use of organizational and self-regulatory strategies increased over time. These trends, however, were found to vary by students' achievement levels. In terms of the relations of motivation and cognition to achievement, the motivational components of self-efficacy and task value were found to be the best predictors of final course performance even after controlling for prior achievement.

Achievement Goals, Learning Strategies and Language Achievement among Peruvian High School Students

“…Specifically, researchers seem to agree that a mastery goal is related to "an adaptive pattern of attributions and positive affect that will help a student try hard, persisting, and ultimately doing better on academic tasks" (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996, p. 239). For instance, it has been documented that mastery oriented students process the learning information at a deep level (Ames & Archer, 1988;Pintrich, 2000b), that they are more cognitively engaged in a task (Pintrich & Schrauben, 1992), use more metacognitive and self-regulating strategies (Meece, Blumenfeld, & Hoyle, 1988), enjoy their learning more (Elliot & Church, 1997) and tend to obtain better academic grades (e.g., Botsas & Padeliadu, 2003;Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Soenens, Matos, & Lacante, 2004, Zusho & Pintrich, 2003. It must be noted though that some researchers have failed to replicate the latter finding (e.g., Harackiewicz, Barron, & Elliot, 1998) and instead showed that performance approach goals were most predictive of academic achievement.…”

Validación de la Versión en Español del Mathematics Value Inventory (MVI) entre Estudiantes Universitarios Uruguayos

“…En tercer lugar, se examinó la relación de las puntuaciones con el rendimiento del alumno en los cursos universitarios de matemática realizados previamente y con el rendimiento general futuro en la universidad, medido tres años después. Dado que la bibliografía sugiere la existencia de efectos positivos de las metas de aprendizaje sobre el rendimiento de estudiantes universitarios de carreras científi cas (Grant & Dweck, 2003;Rhee, Zusho, & Pintrich, 2005;Rodrí-guez Ayán, 2007;Rodríguez Ayán & Ruiz, 2012;Zusho, Pintrich, & Coppola, 2003) extendemos tales hallazgos a la valoración de la matemática en su componente de interés, por considerar a esta dimensión equiparable a las metas de aprendizaje. Así, postulamos que la dimensión interés estará positivamente asociada al rendimiento.…”

¿Cómo aprenden los alumnos en su primer año de universidad al inicio y al final del curso?

“…Son diversas las investigaciones que muestran cómo los enfoques de aprendizaje se relacionan con elementos básicos relativos a la competencia para el aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida (life long learning), como son: autorregulación (Suarez et al, 2004), buen auto-concepto académico (Gargallo, 2006), autoeficacia (Zusho et al, 2003) y motivación intrínseca (Gil et al, 2009;Rinaudo et al, 2003).…”