Using expectancy-value theory to explore aspects of motivation and engagement in inquiry-based learning in primary mathematics

Abstract

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a pedagogical approach in which students address complex, ill-structured problems set in authentic contexts. While IBL is gaining ground in Australia as an instructional practice, there has been little research that considers implications for student motivation and engagement. Expectancy-value theory (Eccles and Wigfield 2002) provides a framework through which children's beliefs about their mathematical competency and their expectation of success are able to be examined and interpreted, alongside students' perceptions of task value. In this paper, Eccles and Wigfield's expectancy-value model has been adopted as a lens to examine a complete unit of mathematical inquiry as undertaken with a class of 9-10-year-old students. Data were sourced from a unit (∼10 lessons) based on geometry and geometrical reasoning. The units were videotaped in full, transcribed, and along with field notes and student work samples, subjected to theoretical coding using the dimensions of Eccles and Wigfield's model. The findings provide insight into aspects of IBL that may impact student motivation and engagement. The study is limited to a single unit; however, the results provide a depth of insight into IBL in practice while identifying features of IBL that may be instrumental in bringing about increased motivation and engagement of students in mathematics. Identifying potentially motivating aspects of IBL enable these to be integrated and more closely studied in IBL practises.

Influence of Teacher and Family Support on University Student Motivation and Engagement

“…The intention was to provide information that helps to explain why some students are more motivated than others to learn a specific curricular subject in university education. Although the motivation theme has been extensively studied, this research, using the MOCSE model [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] as a framework, examined this complex construct from a new perspective for two main reasons: First, this model, based on the temporal conception of motivation [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , …”

“…In our study, the goals considered to be “adaptive or positive” (mastery, performance, and self-worth goals) had a positive effect on student engagement. Mastery goals had a more positive and stronger impact on engagement, which falls in line with most research that reached the same conclusion: Mastery goals are the most adaptive type of goal for performance and other results such as engagement [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ,…”

“…Considerable empirical support for the relation between Expectancy–value beliefs and student engagement can be found for Secondary Education [ 58 , 59 , 60 ] and University students [ 61 , 62 ], which confirms that beliefs are significant predictors of engagement. The results of some studies show that Expectancy–value beliefs strongly influence performance, whereas the subject value of a task considerably impacts choice, effort, and persistence [ 63 , 64 ].…”

Learning Mathematics From Home During COVID-19: Insights From Two Inquiry-Focussed Primary Schools

“…Teachers who embrace inquiry-based learning typically select tasks that aim to promote rich, contextualised understandings instead of rote learning, and are inclined to pursue tasks with a high level of cognitive demand (Boston & Smith, 2009). Students are required to use selfregulatory skills as they set goals for themselves to complete complex tasks (Fielding-Wells, O'Brien, & Makar, 2017). Scaffolded inquiry-based approaches have been shown to lead to better student learning outcomes in comparison to explicit instruction and unassisted discovery-based learning -including within mathematics education (Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, & Tenenbaum, 2011).…”

The Relationship Between Self Efficacy and Motivation With Stem Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Particularly, previous studies generally focused more on correlation between non-cognitive factors with students' achievement, that is a total of 13 studies (Cleary & Kitsantas, 2017;Desoete et al, 2018;Fielding-wells, Brien, & Makar, 2017;Hammoudi, 2018 Köller, Mcelvany, & Gebauer, 2018). 11 studies focused on teaching and learning or pedagogy (Chen, Star, Dede, & Tutwiler, 2018;Colliver, 2017;El-deghaidy, 2017;Fouze & Amit, 2018;Lazarides & Rubach, 2017; C. W. Lee, Walkowiak, & Nietfeld, 2017;Prast et al, 2018;Proudfoot & Kebritchi, 2017;Sriraman, 2017;Telegina & Drovosekov, 2019;Yang, 2015), five studies about the need of STEM intervention programs Falco, 2019;Mohamad Yusop, Sumari, K. Azeez, Said, & Mohd Jamil, 2015;Tran, 2018;Yusof & Jalil, 2012) and three studies were about students' SES factor (Alordiah, Akpadaka, & Oviogbodu, 2015;H.…”