Motivation, Learning, and Transfer

In this area we examine the interrelations between aspects of human motivation, learning, and transfer. Our work has focused on students’ achievement goals, interest, self-efficacy, and disciplinary identity in relation to each other and learning and transfer of math and science concepts and skills. Questions include: What types of motivation predict transfer? How do different motivations facilitate or inhibit transfer? Can we develop an integrated theory of learning and motivation to explain transfer successes and failures? Can science and math instruction be designed to support both student motivation, learning, and transfer? 

Investigating Motivation and Transfer in Physical Science through Preparation for Future Learning Instruction

A critical problem in science education is to understand how students transfer their prior knowledge and experience acquired in one situation to solve novel problems in another. Not only do students struggle with conceptual understanding and transfer, but they also show declines in motivation for science during the middle school years. Prior research suggests there is great potential and opportunity to address these challenges by integrating past work on cognitive and motivational approaches to understanding learning and transfer. In this project, we integrate these separate strands of past work by exploring the relations between different types of instructional activities, student motivation (i.e., their goals, interest, and perceptions of autonomy), and transfer in the context of 6th grade physical science units. We investigate two forms of instructional activities, comparing "tell-and-practice", in which students receive direct instruction followed by problem solving, to "preparation for future learning" (PFL), in which students first engage in inquiry tasks and then are given direct instruction. We test and revise a theoretical framework for transfer that integrates cognitive and motivational factors and processes.

Build, Understand, & Tune Interventions that Cumulate to Real Impact

In this work we bring together a highly interdisciplinary team to study a suite of instructional, cognitive-skill, and social/motivational interventions that have been demonstrated to produce large improvements in learning in the context of introductory STEM courses. This research is significant because it will allow us to understand which interventions produce long-term positive outcomes, whether these interventions combine negatively or synergistically within and across courses, and the types of situations or groups of students for which they are most effective. Much of our work on this project has examined student motivation and its impact on learning and performance outcomes in multiple course contexts.

Belenky, D. M., & Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2012). Motivation and transfer: The role of mastery-approach goals in preparation for future learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(3), 399-432. doi: 10.1080/10508406.2011.651232

Bernacki, M. L., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & Aleven, V. (2015). Examining self-efficacy during learning: Variability and relations to performance, behavior, and learning. Metacognition and Learning, 10, 99-117. doi: 10.1007/s11409-014-9127-x

Marshman, E., Kalender, Z. Y., Nokes-Malach, T. J., Schunn, C., & Singh, C. (2018). Females with As have similar physics self-efficacy as males with Cs: A cause for alarm? Physical Review Physics Education Research, 14, 020123. doi.10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.020123

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