The relationship between learners' motivational schemas, learners' affect, and changes to learners' achievement goals : a test of the cognitive change of motivational beliefs model

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 7, 2011).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. David Jonassen.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.This dissertation study was conducted to examine an original model of motivational change in hopes of addressing a paucity of research regarding changes in academic motivation (Murphy & Alexander, 2000; Pintrich, 2003; J. C. Turner & Patrick, 2008). Borrowing from conceptual change theory (Chi, 1992; Smith et. al, 1993; Dole & Sinatra, 1998), the Conceptual Change of Motivational Beliefs Model (CCMBM) posits that changes in learners' motivation can be understood by examining factors of the environment, such social agents, and factors of the individual, such as articulation of motivational schemas. For the current study, changes to learners' achievement goals for tasks and courses were examined. Three aspects of the CCMBM were assessed as they relate to these achievement goals: 1.) the relationship that motivational schema articulation has with changes in learners' achievement goals; 2.) the relationship that learners' ontological categories of the motivational schema have to changes in learners' achievement goals; and 3.) how learners' affect interacts with both the motivational schema articulation and its ontological categories in their relations to changes in learners' achievement goals. Analyses conducted using Repeated measure MANOVA and growth models via Hierarchical Linear Modeling exhibited little support for the hypothesized relationships between the CCMBM and changes to learners' achievement goals.Includes bibliographical reference

Exploring changes in college students' attributions after participation in a learning strategies course

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (January 23, 2007)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2005.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Educational and counseling psychology.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study was designed to determine how learning strategies courses may serve to promote more adaptive attributions in early college students. Data were collected from undergraduates enrolled in combined learning strategies and freshmen experience courses at a large Midwestern university. Students were asked to reflect on an academic failure and attribute causes for this failure via a survey at the beginning and end of the semester.Teachers' epistemological beliefs were also assessed to investigate their influence on the students' attributions. Findings suggest that students' attributions did not change and that the teachers' epistemological beliefs had no influence on the students' attributional change. The study and findings are discussed within a theoretical framework of conceptual change known as Cognitive Conflict Theory