A multi-user virtual environment to support students' self-efficacy and interest in science: A latent growth model analysis

Abstract Using latent growth models, we explored: (a) The effect of middle school students' (n = 189) pre-intervention science self-efficacy and science interest on their initial interest in an Ecosystems Multi-User Virtual Environment (EcoMUVE) and the rate of change in their interest in EcoMUVE; and (b) the mediating effect of students' initial interest in EcoMUVE and rate of change in interest on students' post-intervention science self-efficacy and interest in science. Results showed that: (1) students' pre-intervention self-efficacy for science had an effect both on students' triggered situational interest for EcoMUVE and on students' maintained situational interest for EcoMUVE; (2) both triggering and maintaining situational interest in EcoMUVE were important in developing students' science self-efficacy. In fact, maintained situational interest was the stronger predictor; and (3) maintained situational interest for EcoMUVE translated into individual interest for the science content. Results support and extend social cognitive theory as well as models of interest development.

[1]  Paul J. Silvia,et al.  Self-Efficacy and Interest: Experimental Studies of Optimal Incompetence. , 2003 .

[2]  Thorsten Gerber,et al.  Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis Modeling Change And Event Occurrence , 2016 .

[3]  R. Ryan,et al.  Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory. , 1983 .

[4]  R. Mayer,et al.  Narrative games for learning: Testing the discovery and narrative hypotheses. , 2012 .

[5]  Chris Dede,et al.  Shifts in Student Motivation during Usage of a Multi-User Virtual Environment for Ecosystem Science , 2014, Int. J. Virtual Pers. Learn. Environ..

[6]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[7]  D. Ketelhut.  The Impact of Student Self-efficacy on Scientific Inquiry Skills: An Exploratory Investigation in River City, a Multi-user Virtual Environment , 2007 .

[8]  S. Hennessy,et al.  Pupil perspectives on the contribution of information and communication technology to teaching and learning in the secondary school , 2003 .

[9]  V. Hein,et al.  Perceptions of teacher’s feedback and learning environment as predictors of intrinsic motivation in physical education , 2003 .

[10]  Henk G. Schmidt,et al.  Situational interest and learning: Thirst for knowledge , 2014 .

[11]  R. Clark.  Reconsidering Research on Learning from Media , 1983 .

[12]  Chris Dede,et al.  Teacher Perceptions of the Practicality and Effectiveness of Immersive Ecological Simulations as Classroom Curricula , 2013, Int. J. Virtual Pers. Learn. Environ..

[13]  Chris S. Hulleman,et al.  Enhancing interest and performance with a utility value intervention. , 2010 .

[14]  E. Deci,et al.  Facilitating internalization: the self-determination theory perspective. , 1994, Journal of personality.

[15]  David A. Bergin,et al.  Influences on classroom interest , 1999 .

[16]  Patricia A. Alexander,et al.  College Instruction and Concomitant Changes in Students’ Knowledge, Interest, and Strategy Use: A Study of Domain Learning , 1997 .

[17]  R. Mayer,et al.  Personalized messages that promote science learning in virtual environments , 2004 .

[18]  Chris Dede,et al.  Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning , 2009, Science.

[19]  K. Ann Renninger,et al.  Interest, Learning and Development , 1992 .

[20]  S. Hidi,et al.  Gender and interest processes in response to literary texts: situational and individual interest , 2002 .

[21]  Rose Tirotta,et al.  Interactive whiteboards produce small gains in elementary students' self-reported motivation in mathematics , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[22]  S. Hidi,et al.  The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development , 2006 .

[23]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[24]  Marco Vicentini,et al.  Classroom discussion and individual problem-solving in the teaching of history: Do different instructional approaches affect interest in different ways? , 2007 .

[25]  Barney Dalgarno,et al.  What are the learning affordances of 3-D virtual environments? , 2010, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[26]  Lisa M. Larson,et al.  The Relation of Self-Efficacy and Interests: A Meta-Analysis of 60 Samples. , 2003 .

[27]  Markku Niemivirta,et al.  Predictors and outcomes of situational interest during a science learning task , 2013 .

[28]  Ulrich Trautwein,et al.  What makes lessons interesting?: The role of situational and individual factors in three school subjects , 2008 .

[29]  Chris Dede,et al.  Using Virtual Environments to Motivate Students to Pursue STEM Careers: An Expectancy-Value Model , 2013 .

[30]  Shari Metcalf,et al.  Motivation and beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge within an immersive virtual ecosystems environment , 2014 .

[31]  J. Eccles,et al.  The Development of Competence Beliefs, Expectancies for Success, and Achievement Values from Childhood through Adolescence , 2002 .

[32]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[33]  Suzanne Hidi,et al.  The Multiple Meanings of Motivation to Write , 2006 .

[34]  Andreas Krapp,et al.  Basic needs and the development of interest and intrinsic motivational orientations , 2005 .

[35]  Yaniv Kanat-Maymon,et al.  Interest as a Motivational Resource: Feedback and Gender Matter, but Interest Makes the Difference , 2006 .

[36]  C. Dweck,et al.  A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality , 1988 .

[37]  Daniel C. Moos,et al.  Multimedia, hypermedia, and hypertext: Motivation considered and reconsidered , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[38]  Linda C. Schmidt,et al.  Longitudinal relations of self-efficacy to outcome expectations, interests, and major choice goals in engineering students , 2008 .

[39]  Chris S. Hulleman,et al.  Promoting Interest and Performance in High School Science Classes , 2009, Science.

[40]  S. Hidi,et al.  Children's argument writing, interest and self-efficacy: an intervention study , 2002 .

[41]  R. Ryan,et al.  Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere: An extension of cognitive evaluation theory. , 1982 .

[42]  Terry E. Duncan,et al.  Psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory in a competitive sport setting: a confirmatory factor analysis. , 1989, Research quarterly for exercise and sport.

[43]  J. Singer,et al.  Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis , 2003 .

[44]  Frank M. Pajares,et al.  Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings , 1996 .

[45]  David H. Palmer.  Student interest generated during an inquiry skills lesson , 2009 .

[46]  Erika A. Patall,et al.  Antecedents and consequences of situational interest. , 2013, The British journal of educational psychology.

[47]  S. Barab,et al.  Transformational Play , 2010 .

[48]  Benjamin F. Rodriguez,et al.  Psychometric Properties , 2009 .