Task Engagement and Conceptual Change in Middle School Science Classrooms

Science educators have long been concerned that many students fail to engage in academic tasks with the goal of achieving better understanding of science. This study examined two research questions. First, what patterns of students’ task engagement emerge as they work on science classroom tasks? Second, how are patterns of students’ task engagement related to factors involving their cognition (i.e., knowledge and achievement), motivation (e.g., goals in science class), and affect (i.e., attitudes toward science)? The study involved 12 sixth-grade students in two classrooms where the teachers and instructional materials provided students with extensive support to understand science better. The results indicated that some students recognized the value of science learning and demonstrated high quality of cognitive engagement, whereas others pursued alternative agendas. The results are used to explore two research traditions that offer different explanations for the failure of students’ task engagement: (a) cognitive science or conceptual change research and (b) motivation research.

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