The Achievement Motivation Enhancement Curriculum: Evaluating an Affective Intervention For Gifted Students

Abstract

The present qualitative pilot study aimed to evaluate students’ perceptions of procedures and outcomes from an affective intervention to increase achievement motivation among gifted students. The intervention was implemented at a summer program with 20 students. Using inductive analysis, participants’ perceptions of the intervention and its effects were evaluated. This study’s findings show most students enjoyed the Achievement Motivation Enhancement sessions and felt they benefited from talking about their experiences with peers in small groups. Students discussed improved self-perceptions and said they benefitted from learning goal valuation, goal-setting, and self-regulation strategies. Implications are discussed.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Online Delivery of Affective Curriculum for Gifted Students

“…Our quantitative results showed that students reported improved positive academic self-perceptions, planning, and self-monitoring, all of which are directly targeted in the AME curriculum. These findings confirm what we found in previous research on the AME curriculum, both face-to-face (Desmet & Pereira, 2022) and online (Desmet et al, 2022). Contrary to our expectations, students did not report statistically significant improvements in goal valuation or mastery goal orientation.…”

“…Therefore, it is likely that the session needs to be revised to improve its effectiveness. Although another study has shown that the session resulted in significant changes for older students (Desmet et al, 2022), there is existing evidence that the session may not work well for middle school students (Desmet & Pereira, 2023). Thus, we hypothesize that the lack of significant change is likely due to the nature of the session and not due to the online delivery.…”

“…Positive academic self-perception is required for academic success (Hussain et al, 2019) and influences educational and career decisions (Horta, 2018; Simpkins et al, 2006). Improving gifted individuals’ academic self-perception is critical for long-term achievement and motivation (Desmet & Pereira, 2022; Dixson et al, 2016). Dixson et al (2016) found that academic self-efficacy, which is one of the integral constructs to predict academic self-perception, was the strongest prediction for academic success.…”

“…However, there is a limited amount of research on affective interventions and their effectiveness for students with gifts and talents (Jen, 2017). Recently, the Achievement Motivation Enhancement Curriculum (AME), a small-group, discussion-based affective curriculum targeting positive academic self-perceptions, goal valuation, mastery goal orientation, self-regulation, and metacognitive skills, was developed and implemented with student with gifts and talents in various settings (Desmet et al, 2022; Desmet & Pereira, 2022). Initially, the curriculum was piloted at a summer enrichment program for students with gifts and talents (Desmet & Pereira, 2022), where it was determined that the curriculum showed promise of effectiveness and was perceived positively by both educators and students.…”

Relationship between Achievement Motivation Personality Indicator and Academic Achievement among Gifted and Talented Learners in Public Primary Schools in Nairobi County

“…The aforementioned results are reinforced by Desmet and Pereira (2021), who report that the majority of students liked the Achievement Motivation Enhancement sessions and believed they benefitted from discussing their experiences in small groups. Students acknowledged enhanced self-perceptions and cited learning goal evaluation, goal formulation, and self-regulation skills as beneficial (Mammadov et al, 2018).…”