This thesis investigated children's school achievement in terms of an integration of three theories of achievement motivation. The three theoretical outlooks were expectancy-value theory (EVT), implicit theories of intelligence (ITI), and flow theory (FT). The first of two studies was an exploratory investigation of the effectiveness of each theory independently and combined to predict children's achievement in four school subjects. The subject areas were maths, reading, instrumental music and sport. Participants were 84 children (40 females and 44 males) aged 9 to 10 years, one of each child's parents, and school teachers of each child in the four subject areas. All data were collected through questionnaires based on the three models. The results indicated that EVT and FT but not ITI accounted for a significant amount of the variance in children's achievement, including effects for subject area and gender. A second confirmatory study tested EVT, FT and an integrated model for the prediction of achievement in maths, reading and instrumental music. The participants were a further 141 children (74 females and 67 males) aged 10 to 11 years, and a parent and teachers of each child. Data collection using questionnaires occurred early in the school year (Timel) and approximately five months later (Time2). For EVT, children and parents’ competence beliefs were significant predictors of children's achievement in each subject area. Females tended to believe themselves more competent at reading and instrumental music and also valued these subjects more highly than boys. Modeling results for flow theory indicated that children's emotional responses to classes (happiness and confusion) were significant predictors of achievement, the type of emotion varying between subject areas and time periods. Females generally had a more positive emotional reaction to reading and instrumental music classes than males did. The integrated model results indicated significant relationships between EVT and flow theories for each subject area, with EVT explaining most achievement variance in the integrated model. Children's and parents’ competence beliefs were the main predictors of achievement at Timel and 2, Subject area and gender differences were found which provide direction for future research. Anecdotal reports of parents and teachers often attest to individual differences in children's involvement in various school domains. Even among children of apparently similar intelligence, it is not uncommon to find one who likes nothing better than to work on a mathematics problem while another much prefers to read a novel or play a musical instrument Some children appear to achieve good results for most of the activities in which they are engaged while others achieve in a less consistent manner, sometimes particularly excelling in one activity. Some children respond to failure experiences with a determination to improve their performance in the future while others react with resignation and acceptance of their low ability. Some children appear to become totally absorbed in the activity of playing sport while others cannot wait for the game to end. The primary research objective guiding the current thesis is how children's thoughts and feelings about school subjects differ and are related to their school achievement. A perusal of the achievement motivation literature indicates several possible models and concepts that can be applied to explain individual differences in children's school achievement. Concepts such as academic self-concept, multiple intelligences, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-beliefs, competence beliefs, subjective task values, mastery and performance goals, ‘Flow’ experiences and social motivation are just some of the constructs used to explain children's achievement motivation, both within and between various activity domains. These constructs are proposed by researchers from different theoretical perspectives to achievement motivation. Although there is much literature relevant to each perspective, there is little research indicating how the various perspectives may relate to each other. The current thesis will begin by reviewing three currently popular theoretical orientations cited in achievement motivation research: subjective beliefs and values; implicit theories of intelligence, and flow experience and family complexity. Following this review, a framework will be proposed for testing the determinants of children's school achievement, both within each of the three theoretical perspectives and also in combination.

abstract: Learners' attitudes and beliefs during the initial stages of learning have a profound impact on their future decisions, practice habits, and persistence. In music education, however, surprisingly little research has explored how physical equipment design might influence novices' attitudes and beliefs. The current study addresses this gap by examining how novices' motivation and perception differ based on the physical design of the musical instrument they interact with while learning. Fifty-two adult participants completed an online survey measuring their expectancies (e.g., confidence), value beliefs (e.g., enjoyment, interest, and social merit), and anticipated persistence while attempting to learn the electric guitar. Afterward, participants attempted to learn and perform several beginner-level tasks while using a conventionally designed or ergonomically designed guitar. The conventionally designed guitar was a commercially available model marketed toward beginner and intermediate-level guitarists. In contrast, the ergonomic guitar was a custom model based on expert design recommendations to improve ease of use, comfort, and user experience. Participant learning expectations and values were assessed before and after a one-hour practice session. Results revealed that novices who used the ergonomic guitar reported significant gains in anticipated learning enjoyment. Alternatively, novices who used the conventional guitar exhibited no such change. Beyond this relationship however, the ergonomic guitar was not found to meaningfully affect participants' confidence, interest, physical discomfort, and task difficulty perceptions. Additionally, the ergonomic guitar did not have a statistically significant influence on learning persistence ratings. One important implication extracted from this study is that a single practice session may not provide enough time or experience to affect a novices' attitudes and beliefs toward learning. Future studies may seek to remedy this study limitation by using a longitudinal design or longer practice task trials. Despite this limitation however, this exploratory study highlights the need for researchers, music educators, and instrument manufacturers to carefully consider how the physical design of a musical instrument may impact learning attitudes, choices, and persistence over time. Additionally, this study offers the first attempt at extending the equipment design literature to music education and Expectancy-Value Theory. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Psychology 2016

The aim of this essay has been to gain knowledge about how authentic experiences affect students' motivation for their learning of Spanish and to compare how their motivation is influenced by different kinds of authentic experiences. According to Bryman (2006) the most common methods when doing investigations about motivation are questionnaires combined with structured interviews, within a mixed method, with both quantitative and qualitative instruments. The research has therefore been carried out at a Swedish high school, applying questionnaires at 122 students and structured interviews with 8 students. The results were analyzed with the motivational theories; Eccles and Wigfield's expectancy-value theory och Deci och Ryan's self-determination theory. The results show a tendency of a positive attitude towards authentic experiences during lessons. These seem to be used by the teachers, especially in the form of authentic music and film, and students also consider those activities to positively influence motivation and most of them believe that different authentic experiences could increase motivation, increase the posibility to integrate to internal motivation towards Spanish as a subject, but most consider that real and virtual meetings with Spanishspeaking probably will not do so, since the ability to integrate them rather seem that it might inhibit the students' psychosocial needs.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the processes and influences that underlie the choice of retired elite athletes to further their education and assume the adult learner role. In the current study, focus was applied specifically to professional ice hockey players who were in a period of retirement from active play. Elite athletes often retire at a time when most other professions are just beginning or reaching a level of stability. Research suggests that many retired elite athletes experience a difficult transition to an early retirement from athletics that is fraught with depression and unemployment. A select number of these elite athletes choose to further their educations after their careers have expired. The literature suggests that some of these retired elite athletes find educational programming a valuable coping strategy in the often traumatic post-athletic career adjustment. Unfortunately, this choice is made by only few athletes. It would be desirable to encourage more retired athletes to consider and engage in educational activities; however, currently, there is only very little knowledge on the processes underlying athletes' choice to participate, or not to participate, in education in their retirement years. Using a theoretical framework that includes adult learning theory and adult development theory, in conjunction with expectancy-value theory of motivation, the impact of individual characteristics and environmental opportunities on post-athletic career choices made by professional athletes may be better understood. The primary instrument for data collection was a personal interview with ten retired professional hockey players, conducted over a consecutive six-month period resulting in significant data. Utilizing the constant-comparative method for data analysis, common themes were identified as indicators of educational engagement: Informal Mentorship, Head Injury Related Retirement, and Pre-Transition Planning. In addition to these themes, the findings reflected an alternative adult developmental model possibly unique to professional hockey players. The findings of this study are valuable to the larger conversation regarding adult learners, adult development, and elite athlete career transition. / Educational Administration

The main objective of this thesis was to explore issues related to student achievement motivation in the Swedish TIMSS 2003 (Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study) context. The thesis comprises of five empirical papers and a summary. The expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation was used as the general theoretical framework in all empirical papers, and all papers are concerned with construct validation in one form or another. Aspects of student achievement motivation were measured on a task-specific level (motivation to do well on the TIMSS test) and on a domain-specific level (self-concept in and valuing of mathematics and science) and regressed on test performance. The first paper reports the development and validation of scores from an instrument measuring aspects related to student test-taking motivation. It was shown that a number of items in the instrument could be interpreted as a measure of test-taking motivation, and that the test-taking motivation construct was distinct from other related constructs. The second paper related the Swedish students’ ratings of mathematics test-taking motivation to mathematics performance in TIMSS 2003. The students in the sample on average reported that they were well motivated to do their best on the TIMSS mathematics test and their ratings of test-taking motivation were positively but rather weakly related to achievement. In the third and the fourth papers, the internal structure and relation to performance of the mathematics and science self-concept and task value scales used in TIMSS internationally was investigated for the Swedish TIMSS 2003 sample. For mathematics, it was shown that the internationally derived scales were suitable also for the Swedish sample. It was further shown that ratings of self-concept were rather strongly related to mathematics achievement while ratings of mathematics value were basically unrelated to mathematics achievement. For the science subjects, the internal structure of the scales was less simple, and ratings of self-concept and valuing of science were not very strongly related to science achievement. The study presented in the fifth paper used interviews and an open-ended questionnaire item to further investigate student test-taking motivation and perceptions of the TIMSS test. The results mainly corroborated the results from study II. In the introductory part of the thesis, the empirical studies are summarized, contextualized, and discussed. The discussion relates obtained results to theoretical assumptions, applied implications, and to issues of validity in the TIMSS context.

Denna undersökning syftar till att belysa vad som motiverar gymnasieelever att använda GeoGebra i matematiken. Vidare undersöktes även eventuella skillnader i motivation, både typ och grad, hos gymnasieelever som använder GeoGebra ofta respektive sällan i matematiken. Undersökningen grundar sig i motivationsteori och specifikt förväntan-värde teorin och utfördes med kvantitativa- och kvalitativa metoder. Datainsamlingen skedde med en enkät vilken besvarades av 72 gymnasieelever från fyra skolor i Norrbottens län, Stockholms län och Västra Götalands län. Resultatet från undersökningen visar att gymnasieelever främst motiveras av nytto- och kostnadsvärdet som GeoGebra medför. Med andra ord, att GeoGebra ger dem fördelar i matematiken genom att göra det enklare och mer tidseffektiv att hantera matematikproblem med hjälp av GeoGebra. Vidare så visade även resultatet att gymnasieelever som använder GeoGebra ofta motiverades mer av nyttan som verktyget medförde, än gymnasieelever som använder GeoGebra sällan motiverades av det. / The focus of this research was to enlighten what motivates high school students to make use of GeoGebra in mathematics studies. The research also aimed at finding out if there were any differences in motivation, both type and degree, between high school students who used GeoGebra frequently or rarely in mathematics studies. The study was based on motivational theory and more specific expectancy-value theory and used quantitative- and qualitative methods. The data collection was through a survey in which 72 high school students from four schools in Norrbottens county, Stockholms county and Västra Götalands county participated. The result from this study showed that the main reason why high school students are motivated to use GeoGebra in their mathematics studies is because of the utility and cost value the instrument entails. In other means, high school students use the programme because it's easier and more time efficient to solve mathematical problems with it. The study also showed that high school students who use GeoGebra more frequently in mathematics studies are more motivated by the utility value that the instrument brings, than high school students who only use GeoGebra sometimes were.

No description available.

This study tested a self-generated utility value intervention aimed at increasing undergraduate statistics students’ motivation and achievement. The intervention was based on Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020) and encouraged students to make relevant connections between statistics learning content and their lives, primarily emphasising the content’s usefulness to the student, or utility value. In testing a self-generated utility value intervention within the domain of undergraduate statistics, the study extended research previously conducted in high school and undergraduate sciences (psychology and biology) and replicated Hulleman et al. (2017) which tested the role of frequency of students’ connections between the learning content and their lives in their motivation and achievement. In addition to transferring a self-generated utility value intervention to the domain of statistics, the study’s main contribution was made by investigating the role of connection quality—the quality of utility value connections undergraduate statistics students made between the learning content and their lives in their motivation and achievement. The study used collected data from a blindly randomised longitudinal field experiment conducted with undergraduate business school students from a research-intensive university located in the north-eastern USA. The students were of two differing sections of the same 15-week introductory statistics course. The self-generated utility value intervention consisted of prompts, twice during the semester, which instructed stud¬¬ents to write 2-3 paragraphs in response to. Data collected was comprised of students’ gender, first-generation status, initial/final achievement assessments, pre/post self-reports on motivation (expectancy, cost, intrinsic value, utility value) and connection frequency, and researcher scaled ratings coding on student intervention responses for connection quality. Part I Results from this study suggest that the intervention significantly increased students’ achievement (d = .42)—an approximately 7-percentage point difference between intervention and control group conditions. Furthermore, the intervention was found to be especially effective at increasing at-risk, low initial achievement, students’ motivation (expectancy, d = .54) and achievement (d = .87)—an approximately 14.5-percentage point difference between group conditions. Study results also suggest that the intervention’s impact on at-risk students’ achievement was mediated via motivation increases—through students’ expectancy for success, though, not through students’ utility value. The Part I results were confirmatory of Hulleman et al.’s (2017) findings—the intervention effected students’ achievement, but the pathway of indirect effects traversed through students’ expectancy, not their utility value which Hulleman et al. (2017) and this study both hypothesised it would do instead. Part II Results attempted to explain the intervention’s pathways of effects through expectancy to achievement by creating new measures, connection quality measures. Connection quality measures were constructed to capture students’ utility value more effectively than the self-reported utility value survey measure. This study’s Part II Results suggest that the intervention was found, again, to significantly increase students’ achievement (d = 1.46), but the indirect intervention effects traversed a pathway to affecting students’ achievement, not through their expectancy, but through their utility value (as captured via the newly minted connection quality measures), to their motivation (cost and interest), and then to their achievement. The new connection quality measures, exploratorily, were found to capture students’ utility value more effectively than the self-reported utility value survey measure, enabling the self-generated utility value intervention’s effects on students’ achievement and motivation to be further explained. / Math & Science Education

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur gymnasieelever använder matematikboken för att få en utökad förståelse för matematikboken som verktyg i undervisningen och lärandet. Vidare var syftet att synliggöra eventuella samband mellan motivationen till att studera matematik och hur matematikboken används. Både kvantitativ- och kvalitativ metod användes i undersökningen och datamaterialet samlades in via en digital enkät. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för att undersöka gymnasielevernas motivation till matematik var förväntan-värdeteorin. Sammanlagt deltog 133 gymnasieelever från tre skolor som låg i Norrbotten och Västernorrland. Resultatet pekade på att gymnasieleverna främst arbetade med uppgifter i matematikboken, teoriavsnittet och exempeluppgifterna lästes inte lika frekvent men det förekom. Vidare använde en majoritet av gymnasieeleverna matematikboken flera gånger i veckan under lektionerna, medan det inte var lika vanligt att den användes utanför skolan. Kostnadsvärdet var den motivationstyp som korrelerade med flest aktiviteter med matematikboken. Det visade sig bland annat att de som ofta använde matematikboken utanför skolan hade högre kostnadsvärde än de som aldrig eller sällan gjorde det. / The purpose of the studie was to investigate how high school students’ use the mathematics textbook to gain an expanded understanding of the mathematics textbook as a tool in teaching and learning. Furthermore, the aim was to make visible any connections between the motivation to study mathematics and how the textbook is used. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the studie and the data was collected via a digital survey. The theoretical starting point for investigating high school students' motivation for mathematics was the expectency-value theory. A total of 133 high school students participated from three schools located in Norrbotten and Västernorrland. The results indicated that the high school students mainly worked with tasks in the mathematics book, the theory section and the example tasks were not read as frequently, but it did occur. Furthermore, a majority of high school students used the mathematics textbook several times a week during lessons, while it was not as common that it was used outside of school. Cost value was the motivation type that correlated with the most activities with the textbook. Among other things, it turned out that those who often used the mathematics textbook outside of school had a higher cost value than those who never or rarely did so.

<p>Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) calls for motivation researchers to treat learning and motivation as inseparable from context. Previous research has examined students’ expectancies and values in specific disciplines, showing dynamic changes over time. Limited research has examined students’ processes of change, considered the influence of students’ disciplinary identities, or solicited characteristics of the disciplinary environment that influence change. Additionally, current frontiers of the field aim to race-reimage motivational constructs. By situating motivation research in the race and gender experiences of historically marginalized students (i.e., Black, Latinx, Hispanic, Indigenous, women), the field can expand motivation theories to support a diversifying population, instead of relying on theories primarily based on the experiences of White individuals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the processes of motivational and identity change and situate students' identity and motivation negotiations in their disciplines, race, and gender. Using a qualitative, single case study design, eight undergraduate students of color majoring in science or engineering and who were on academic probation were interviewed. Results identified three processes of negotiating their identity and motivation that students employed in response to being on probation. Students reported challenges to their identity and motivation negotiations situated in their race and gender experiences. However, they also shared cultural assets that supported their continued identification with, expectancies for success in, and valuing of their science and engineering disciplines. Findings propose theoretical and methodological implications considering communal values in the SEVT model. Practical implications are discussed for instructors and student success personnel to integrate students’ social identities and communal motivations into their</p> <p>disciplinary engagement.</p>