The perception of self-efficacy is a central cognitive construct in explaining motivation. Assigned goals are established in the literature as affecting self-efficacy, but only a few researchers investigated their effects in complex tasks. One stream of research revealed the positive effects of easy goals on performance in a complex task without regard to self-efficacy perceptions. In the present study, the focus was on the effects of assigned, easy goals on self-efficacy and personal goals in complex task performance. It was expected that easy goals would be superior to moderate or impossible goals because the complexity and uncertainty of the task distorts subjects' perceptions of goal difficulty.

« Penser global, agir local » cette formule employée lors du premier sommet sur l’environnement en 1972, semble synthétiser l’esprit du développement durable. A l’heure d’Internet comment une vision globale du Monde influence-t-elle l’action locale que représente l’enseignement des sciences ? Pour rendre compte de ce que pourrait être la vie d’un enseignant de science à l’heure du numérique, nous avons mené une étude ethnographique participante en redevenant professeur de physique-chimie dans un collège du Haut-Var. Durant ces années, tout en occupant une vraie place dans la vie de l’établissement, nous avons interrogé l’objet science, son histoire, ses acteurs, sa médiatisation, sa présence dans notre environnement, à l’école, et des enjeux de société qu’il représente. Et bien sûr, époque et moyens obligent, en s’inspirant de ce qui existait sur le Web, nous avons mis en place et entretenu un blog pédagogique de science : Découvrir et mesurer le Monde. / “Think global, act local” this formula used at the first environmental summit in 1972, seems synthesize the mind of sustainable development. Today, at Internet age, when we teach science, is required to have a global vision of the world for local action teaching. At Internet time, how a global vision of the World influences local action like science teaching? For report what could be the science teacher life in this digital age, we conducted an ethnographic participant study by becoming a physical chemistry professor in a middle school in the Haut-Var, in France. During those years, while occupying a real place in the life of the school, we questioned the science object, its history, its actors, its media coverage, and its presence in our environment, school and his social challenges. And of course, require time and resources, drawing from what existed on the Web, we have set up and maintained a blog pedagogical science: Discover and measure the World.