Eccles' expectancy-value model of achievement motivation suggests that beliefs about ability and expectations for success are a strong predictor of grades and differences in task value underlie differences in motivation and achievement. This model has not been previously investigated in the context of high stakes examinations in the UK and this study therefore explores the relationships between expectations, values and A-level achievement in 930 students. This is important given the significance of these qualifications for future life pathways. Furthermore, studies examining the subjective task value (STV) patterns across school subjects, rather than domain specific ones, are rare, highlighting the additional importance of this work. A mixed methods design was used. A questionnaire collected information on a student's background (SES, gender, ethnicity), the expectations and STV attached to A-levels, and their future and general life expectations and values. Some of these relationships were also explored using 20 semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data illustrated that studying A-levels confirmed aspects of students' identity but also facilitated changes to their goals and academic skills, having positive effects, contrary to the argument that high stakes assessment has a negative impact on individuals. Unsurprisingly parents and teachers were perceived to be influential. As predicted, expectations and values were related to A-level achievement. As there is a lack of research into the effects of these variables on A-level outcomes these findings are valuable. Eccles' original three factor model of STV could not, however, be supported. In this research the utility construct was removed. Further exploration of the STV construct is warranted. Socio-economic status was positively related to both achievement and expectations about achievement. Girls had lower expectations but placed higher value on their A-levels. There were, however, no gender differences in achievement. Employing the expectancy-value model in this UK context has been useful in explaining the motivational patterns underlying A-level qualifications and the findings have implications for enhancing outcomes and narrowing educational gaps in this student population.

The understanding of why students decide to become music therapists is valuable information for music therapy educators and policy makers and published information is lacking. The use of expectancy-value theory provides a framework to understand student choices. Researchers can better understand why students purse a career in music therapy by examining students’ abilities, beliefs, expectancies, and values related to the choice. The purpose of this study was to examine why current undergraduate and equivalency students want to be music therapists. Music therapy students (N = 129) throughout the United States provided insight into their decision to become music therapists by completing a survey with questions about their expectancies and values. Results indicated that both undergraduate and equivalency students tended to choose to be music therapists because they expected music therapy to be a career that requires hard work and expert knowledge while maintaining their interest and morale. Results of a correlational analysis suggest there are several choice-making variables that may influence each other, indicating that the decision to become a music therapist is a complex process for students. Finally, the results of a Mann-Whitney U test suggested that there was no significant difference between the expectancies and values that influenced undergraduate and equivalency students’ choices to become music therapists. Music therapists in many capacities may use this information to improve recruitment and engagement of music therapy students.

abstract: The primary objective of this study was to revise a measure of exogenous instrumentality, part of a larger scale known as the Perceptions of Instrumentality Scale (Husman, Derryberry, Crowson, & Lomax, 2004) used to measure future oriented student value for course content. Study 1 piloted the revised items, explored the factor structure, and provided initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the revised scale. Study 2 provided additional reliability evidence but a factor analysis with the original and revised scale items revealed that the revised scale was measuring a distinct and separate construct that was not exogenous instrumentality. Here this new construct is called extrinsic instrumentality for grade. This study revealed that those that endorse a high utility value for grade report lower levels of connectedness (Husman & Shell, 2008) and significantly less use of knowledge building strategies (Shell, et al., 2005). These findings suggest that there are additional types of future oriented extrinsic motivation that should be considered when constructing interventions for students, specifically non-major students. This study also provided additional evidence that there are types of extrinsic motivation that are adaptive and have positive relationships with knowledge building strategies and connectedness to the future. Implications for the measurement of future time perspective (FTP) and its relationship to these three proximal, future oriented, course specific measures of value are also discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2017

The ability to transfer knowledge to novel contexts is one of the most important goals that our educational institutions must achieve. Motivation is one of the many factors that influence students' learning, performance, and their ability to transfer. However, not many researchers have studied the role of motivation in transfer keeping in view Eccles' Subjective task value theory. The present study explored the role of subjective values students associate with cognitive development theories they studied in an educational psychology course, in their ability to transfer knowledge learned in lecture to a novel context. Participants were 45 college students in an educational psychology course. They were asked to complete the subjective task value instrument, the fundamental knowledge test and the transfer test. Based on the literature, it is hypothesized that if the subjective value of a task has a role to play in the level of transfer that learners display, there will be a strong correlation between their scores on the subjective task value instrument and transfer test. Nevertheless, the results showed that there is no relationship between learners' value beliefs and their ability to transfer. However, the results showed a significant relationship between fundamental understanding and transfer. Future research taking the nature of instruction into account and that test the learners for transfer multiple times during a single semester would perhaps give us a much clearer picture of the determinants of the learners' failure to transfer.

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Följande komparativa studie genomfördes med fokus på hur nationell jämställdhet kan påverka hur elever värdesätter matematik i relation till sitt framtida yrkesval. Studien omfattar totalt tolv länder som delades in i tre jämställdhetskategorier: hög, medel och låg jämställdhetsrankning. Studien analyserar rådata från den internationella elevenkäten TIMSS 2015 för årskurs 8 med hjälp av statistikprogrammet IBM SPSS. Som utgångspunkt för studien används J.S.Eccles Expectancy-Value teorin (vidare EVT-modellen) och Global Gender Gap jämställdhetsindex från World Economic Forums. GGG-jämställdhetsindex redovisar ett mått på länders reella jämställdhetstillstånd. Resultatet sammanställdes i tabeller (se Bilagor och Analys) och analyserades utifrån studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter och tidigare forskning. I studien formulerades tre frågeställningar där den första undersöker hur elever årskurs 8 värdesätter betydelsen av matematik utifrån fyra aspekter från EVT-modellen. Den andra frågeställningen fokuserar på vilket intresse eleverna har för ett jobb som involverar matematik. Den tredje frågeställningen analyserar sambandet i resultatet mellan de första två frågeställningarna i förhållande till varandra. Studien kom fram till att elevernas värdering av hur mycket de gillar matematik och vilken emotionell kostnad de tillskriver matematik har samband med det intresse som de har för ett jobb med matematik. Sambandet ser ut på så sätt att ju mer elever gillar matematik desto mer intresserade är dem av ett jobb som involverar matematik. Samtidigt tillskriver elever som är intresserade av jobbet också en hög emotionell kostnad till matematiken. I resultatet framkom också stora skillnader mellan pojkar och flickors värdering av matematik i de högt rankade länderna. Med studien som bakgrund ser vi att skillnader i värdering av matematik mellan pojkar och flickor inte behöver innebära något negativt. Istället indikerar de stora könsklyftor i de högt rankade länderna att de erbjuds en större frihet att uttrycka sin könsidentitet. Studien visar att det snarare är likheter i ländernas kulturella ordning än jämställdhetsrankning i sig som påverkar hur pojkar och flickor förhåller sig till matematik inom de tre jämställdhetskategorierna.

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It has long been accepted by science education research that science inquiry in the classroom is essential to the development of a deep understanding of the nature of science and the world around us. In an effort to understand the relationship between science inquiry, science process skills, the nature of science and science and engineering fairs, this mixed methods study qualitatively explores teaching strategies of exemplary science and engineering teachers (N=6) who mentored several International Science and Engineering Fair finalists within a 10 year period (2004-2014). The quantitative portion of this research explored the relationship between science fair participation and academic achievement. Using the theoretical framework of modern expectancy-value theory, 5 themes emerged. All believed: 1) there is intrinsic value in science inquiry and science fair; 2) all included strategic engagement opportunities for students; 3) intrinsic value and motivation potentially lead to increased academic aptitude; 4) the benefits of science inquiry and science fair outweigh costs; and 5) there is a link between intrinsic value in science and engineering fair and utility value. Of the schools (N=31) identified for the quantitative study, demographic analysis (gender, ethnicity, socio-economic statics, and size of school) narrowed to 8 treatment schools with one control school indicated no statistical relationship between academic performance on a standardized state science examination and science fair participation. An ad hoc study indicated the standardized testing instrument was not an adequate measurement of the level of inquiry included in a science and engineering fair project. In conclusion, a list comprised of exemplary science and engineering fair suggestions was formulated to include descriptions of similar teaching strategies or issues among the exemplary science and engineering fair teachers with intentions of increasing science inquiry or the nature of science in the classroom through the science and engineering fair framework.

In this dissertation, the researcher examined teachers' understandings and attitudes about the teaching of argument and how professional development (PD) affected those understandings and attitudes. The teaching of argument is important because argument promotes critical thinking skills, authentic learning opportunities, increased conceptual development, and meaningful discussions about topics that are important to students. The researcher gathered data about 14 teachers’ understandings and attitudes and looked at them as a qualitative case study bounded by their common experience in a PD opportunity during the summer with return visits to PD in the fall and the following spring. The findings include: (1) teachers had little to no previous experience with argument in their own learning or teaching, (2) the teaching of a new strategy, like argument, requires ongoing, systematic PD, and (3) after PD the teachers developed more complex, nuanced understanding of and value for the teaching of argument. These findings were significant in that preservice teacher programs, district PD opportunities, and teacher-led PD learning communities must strategically and intentionally address argument for its power in the 21st century classroom.

The objective of this project is to examine the differences between Moroccan and American students with regards to the cultural influences that led them to pursue an engineering degree. Annually since 2015, a partnership between a university in Morocco and MSU allows senior engineering Moroccan students to study at MSU to obtain their graduate degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering. The roughly equal gender representation in most Moroccan cohorts prompted our research question: “How do students from Morocco and the United States describe the cultural reasons that factored into their choice to pursue an engineering degree?” This exploratory qualitative study is guided by the combined frameworks of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension (HCD) and Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). The influence of expectancy, family/social structure, and value are evaluated using EVT and cultural factors are evaluated through HCD. We conducted two phases of semi-structured interviews with senior and graduate Moroccan and American students. This study resulted in the modification of the EVT model to include the three constructs of Collectivism, Religion, and Power Distance Index. It also revealed how EVT’s task values manifest differently across cultures. Results indicate that cultural differences manifest primarily through the “Collectivist” mentality among Moroccans, explaining the gender participation difference between Moroccan and American engineering students.