The Longitudinal Effects of STEM Identity and Gender on Flourishing and Achievement in College Physics

Background. Drawing on social identity theory and positive psychology, this study investigated women’s responses to the social environment of physics classrooms. It also investigated STEM identity and gender disparities on academic achievement and flourishing in an undergraduate introductory physics course for STEM majors. 160 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory physics course were administered a baseline survey with self-report measures on course belonging, physics identification, flourishing, and demographics at the beginning of the course and a post-survey at the end of the academic term. Students also completed force concept inventories and physics course grades were obtained from the registrar. Results. Women reported less course belonging and less physics identification than men. Physics identification and grades evidenced a longitudinal bidirectional relationship for all students (regardless of gender) such that when controlling for baseline physics knowledge: (a) students with higher physics identification were more likely to earn higher grades; and (b) students with higher grades evidenced more physics identification at the end of the term. Men scored higher on the force concept inventory than women, although no gender disparities emerged for course grades. For women, higher physics (versus lower) identification was associated with more positive changes in flourishing over the course of the term. High-identifying men showed the opposite pattern: negative change in flourishing was more strongly associated with high identifiers than low identifiers. Conclusions. Overall, this study underlines gender disparities in physics both in terms of belonging and physics knowledge. It suggests that strong STEM identity may be associated with academic performance and flourishing in undergraduate physics courses at the end of the term, particularly for women. A number of avenues for future research are discussed

Winning Isn’t Everything: Competition, Achievement Orientation, and Intrinsic Motivation

To test Harackiewicz and Sansone’s (1991) process model of intrinsic motivation in a competitive context, we examined the effects of competition and achievement orientation on intrinsic motivation. In Study 1, participants received positive or negative feedback regarding their performance in competitive and noncompetitive conditions, and we found that achievement orientation moderated the effects of competition. Individuals high in achievement orientation enjoyed a word game more in competition than those low in achievement orientation across conditions of positive and negative feedback. We also examined the effects of performance feedback and found positive effects of interpersonal (outcome) and intrapersonal feedback that were independent of competitive context. In Study 2, we found that achievement orientation moderated the effects of competition, even in the absence of outcome feedback. Mediational analyses identified competence valua-tion, perceived challenge, eagerness, and positive affect as mediators of competition and feedback effects on intrinsic motivation. r 1999 Academic Press We strive to be Number One... But win or lose, it is the competition which gives us pleasure. Joe Paterno, Coach of Pennsylvania State University’s football team (Tutko & Bruns, 1976, p. 205) Defined as the desire to take part in an activity for its own sake (Deci & Ryan, 1985), intrinsic motivation represents a unique type of motivation. Early research This study is based in part on a master’s thesis completed by the first author under the direction o

Personalized Education to Increase Interest

A long-standing ideal of school education has been to connect instruction to a student’s life outside school in order to render subject matter interesting. New technologies enable instructors to personalize learning materials to increase situational interest. After distinguishing three main methods to personalize education (context personalization, choice, and active personalization), we review recent intervention studies designed to increase situational interest, which is necessary for the emergence of individual interest. Across all three kinds of interventions, some studies point to the possibility of increasing interest for students low in initial interest. Despite progress in developing personalized interventions for school practice, research on the theoretical mechanisms behind the success of the interventions has just begun

COMMENTARIES Life Is a Roller Coaster When You View the World Through Entity Glasses

Hong articulate an ambitious conceptual framework with far-ranging implications for personality, motivation, and social behavior. The authors identify two fundamentally different world views that influence how individuals process and respond to social information, and they detail the motivational and social consequences of these world views in two important domains of human behavior (achievement and moral judgment). Dweck et al. have marshalled an extensive array of empirical evidence demonstrating that an individual's beliefs about the malleability of intelligence and morality have a major impact on the way impressions are formed, information is processed, goals are adopted, setbacks are handled, and social reward and punishment is administered. The elegance, simplicity, an

Helping parents support adolescents’ career orientation: Effects of a parent-based utility-value intervention

Adolescents’ motivation is crucial for their transition from school to further education. Parents are known to have a substantial influence on their children’s motivational beliefs through their own beliefs and behaviors. In this study, we tested whether a parent-based utility-value intervention could promote parents’ and students’ motivational beliefs and career orientation behavior. Twenty eighthgrade classrooms from German middle-track schools were randomly assigned to the intervention or to a waitlist control condition. Data from 357 students and their parents were obtained via separate questionnaires at pretest and posttest. The intervention was operationalized through a website where parents and students could find information about the usefulness of different school subjects for future careers. The website was designed to help parents support their children during the career orientation process. To examine the effects of the intervention on parents’ and students’ motivational beliefs and career orientation behavior, Intention-to-treat and Complier Average Causal Effect analyses were calculated. The results showed negative intervention effects on parental career support and perceived importance of career support. No intervention effects were found on the other parental outcomes or on student outcomes. We discuss reasons for these results. The study shows that intervention material needs to be carefully designed and implemented