Changes in student goal orientation across the semester in undergraduate computer science courses

Students' goal orientations impact their self-regulation, engagement, and achievement in post-secondary STEM courses. But, how students' goal orientations change across a semester and the impacts of these changes have not been extensively studied. Study purposes were to investigate goal orientation change across the semester, associations of goal change with achievement and self-regulation, and associations of classroom climate with goal change. Participants were 175 students from college introductory computer science courses. MANOVA identified significant during semester decreases for all goal orientations except task-avoid (Wilks' λ = .724, F (6, 169.00) = 10.71, p <;.001, partial Eta2 = .276). No differences in goal orientation change were found for gender, year in college, or course. Goal orientation change significantly predicted students' course grades, retention of CS content, and strategic self-regulation. Classroom climate significantly predicted goal orientation change. Results indicate that students began the semester with positive goal orientations, but shifted in negative directions over the semester. In college STEM classes, the primary motivational issue may not be motivating students' to initially set learning-and task-approach goals, but rather motivating them to maintain their initial positive goals. Perceptions of course affect and teacher directedness predicted students' goal shifts, suggesting potential avenues for intervention by educators.

[1]  Avi Kaplan,et al.  The Change in Middle School Students’ Achievement Goals in Mathematics Over Time , 2004 .

[2]  Chris S. Hulleman,et al.  Achievement Goal Theory at the Crossroads: Old Controversies, Current Challenges, and New Directions , 2011 .

[3]  Marilla D. Svinicki,et al.  Situating Students’ Motivation in Cooperative Learning Contexts: Proposing Different Levels of Goal Orientations , 2012 .

[4]  R. Pekrun.  The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries, and Implications for Educational Research and Practice , 2006 .

[5]  J. Vermunt,et al.  Patterns in Student Learning: Relationships Between Learning Strategies, Conceptions of Learning, and Learning Orientations , 2004 .

[6]  C. Wolters,et al.  Understanding Procrastination from a Self-Regulated Learning Perspective. , 2003 .

[7]  Veronika Brandstätter,et al.  Avoidance goal pursuit depletes self-regulatory resources. , 2013, Journal of personality.

[8]  Markus A. Maier,et al.  Achievement Goals, Performance Contingencies, and Performance Attainment: An Experimental Test , 2005 .

[9]  A. L. Brown.  Transforming schools into communities of thinking and learning about serious matters. , 1997, The American psychologist.

[10]  C. Wolters,et al.  The Relation between Students' Motivational Beliefs and Their Use of Motivational Regulation Strategies. , 2000 .

[11]  W. Schneider,et al.  COGNITIVE STRA TEGIES : GOOD STRATEGY USERS COORDINATE METACOGNITION AND KNOWLEDGE , 2010 .

[12]  David W. Brooks,et al.  The Unified Learning Model: How Motivational, Cognitive, and Neurobiological Sciences Inform Best Teaching Practices , 2009 .

[13]  Duane F. Shell,et al.  The Impact of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Communities on High School Students' Knowledge Building, Strategic Learning, and Perceptions of the Classroom , 2005 .

[14]  Carole A. Ames.  Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. , 1992 .

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

[16]  P. Pintrich.  The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. , 2000 .

[17]  Leen-Kiat Soh,et al.  Profiles of Motivated Self-Regulation in College Computer Science Courses: Differences in Major versus Required Non-Major Courses , 2013 .

[18]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Social Predictors of Changes in Students' Achievement Goal Orientations. , 1999, Contemporary educational psychology.

[19]  Shirley L. Yu,et al.  The relation between goal orientation and students' motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning , 1996 .

[20]  M. Scardamalia,et al.  Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy, and Technology , 2006 .

[21]  Jenefer Husman,et al.  Control, Motivation, Affect, and Strategic Self-Regulation in the College Classroom : A Multidimensional Phenomenon , 2008 .

[22]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement. , 2006, Annual review of psychology.

[23]  C. Weinstein,et al.  Self-Regulation Interventions with a Focus on Learning Strategies , 2000 .

[24]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia,et al.  Academic Emotions and Student Engagement , 2012 .

[26]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  A 3 × 2 achievement goal model , 2011 .

[27]  Leen-Kiat Soh,et al.  Associations of students' creativity, motivation, and self-regulation with learning and achievement in college computer science courses , 2013, 2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE).

[28]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  A longitudinal analysis of achievement goals: From affective antecedents to emotional effects and achievement outcomes. , 2009 .

[29]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Changes in Achievement Goal Orientations, Perceived Academic Competence, and Grades across the Transition to Middle-Level Schools , 1997, Contemporary educational psychology.

[30]  D. Schunk.  Self-Regulated Learning: The Educational Legacy of Paul R. Pintrich , 2005 .

[31]  Lee Dee Miller,et al.  Improving learning of computational thinking using creative thinking exercises in CS-1 computer science courses , 2013, 2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE).

[32]  MISSING-VALUE MISSING-VALUE,et al.  Knowledge Building , 2017 .

[33]  C. Dweck,et al.  Clarifying achievement goals and their impact. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[34]  P. Pintrich.  A Motivational Science Perspective on the Role of Student Motivation in Learning and Teaching Contexts. , 2003 .

[35]  M. Boekaerts,et al.  How Far Have We Moved Toward the Integration of Theory and Practice in Self-Regulation? , 2006 .

[36]  Leen-Kiat Soh,et al.  Renaissance computing: an initiative for promoting student participation in computing , 2009, SIGCSE '09.