The learning environment and project based curriculum that Olin encompasses is heavily reliant on having students that are self-motivated. To gain insight into students' motivations, I conducted education research with Professor Jon Stolk. Jon has collected data from his Material Science and Stuff of History classes through interviews and surveys. Using this data, I completed two research projects; the first project involved predicting higher level cognitive outcomes from different types of motivation and the second examined gender differences in students' personal goals. Additionally, we had a research group that met weekly, and since everyone in it was passionate about the topic, we always had really interesting discussions. We also tried to include the student body in everything that we did, by writing blogs, posting open-ended questions in shared spaces, and creating interactive posters.
In the first project, I was mainly working with regression analyses in the statistics program SPSS to see how different types of motivations (such as internal motivation, external motivation, value of a task, and belief in one's abilities) could predict higher level cognitive outcomes, such as critical thinking. After performing these analyses, I systematically analyzed interviews to obtain qualitative data that verified my results. The end result of this research project was the journal paper, "Student motivations as predictors of higher-level cognitions in project-based classrooms", which I co-authored with Jon. This paper was published in Active Learning in Higher Education.
The second project involved the qualitative analysis of student learning goals to examine the gender differences that existed. Using the program Atlas.ti, we tagged student goals according to a modified Bloom's taxonomy of learning domains (cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor). The gender-specific responses that we found were related to the students' self-efficacy, teamwork, and peer learning. Together, Julianne, Jon, and I summarized our results in a paper, “Same course, different goals: examining the personal goals of men and women in a project-based engineering environment”, that was accepted to the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference.
Abstract for "Student motivations as predictors of higher-level cognitions in project-based classrooms":
It is well established that active learning helps students engage in higher-level thinking strategies and develop improved cognitive skills. Motivation and self-regulated learning research, however, illustrates that cognitive engagement is an effortful process that is related to students’ valuing of the learning tasks, adoption of internalized goal orientations, and development of personal agency. In this study, we test these relationships by generating multiple regression models that use motivational variables to predict college students’ use of elaboration and critical thinking in project-based courses. We find that elaboration strategies are significantly and positively predicted in regression models based on task value and intrinsic goal orientation, or on task value and self-efficacy. Regression analyses illustrate that models based on task value and intrinsic goal orientation, in combination with either self-efficacy or extrinsic goal orientation, described students’ use of critical thinking strategies. These findings support prior research that shows that student motivations are significantly related to their use of cognitive strategies. The findings extend the existing research base by illustrating the extent to which student motivations may be leveraged to predict cognitive engagement in active, project-based environments.
Abstract for “Same course, different goals: examining the personal goals of men and women in a project-based engineering environment”:
The learning goals of students are not only essential for personal guidance, but they also provide educators insight into individual approaches to learning and student self perceptions. In this study, the learning goals of students in an introductory project-based materials science course were analyzed to determine differences by gender. Student goals were coded according to their inference of different learning domains - cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor – as well as their level of complexity within these domains. Cognitive goals were similar for women and men, while differences by gender appeared in the social, affective, and psychomotor domains. In the social domain, women were more concerned with teamwork and peer learning, while men were focused on confidence in presentations. In the affective and psychomotor domains, the issue of low self-efficacy for some women arose, while men were more eager to express their enthusiasm for the course projects.
In the first project, I was mainly working with regression analyses in the statistics program SPSS to see how different types of motivations (such as internal motivation, external motivation, value of a task, and belief in one's abilities) could predict higher level cognitive outcomes, such as critical thinking. After performing these analyses, I systematically analyzed interviews to obtain qualitative data that verified my results. The end result of this research project was the journal paper, "Student motivations as predictors of higher-level cognitions in project-based classrooms", which I co-authored with Jon. This paper was published in Active Learning in Higher Education.
The second project involved the qualitative analysis of student learning goals to examine the gender differences that existed. Using the program Atlas.ti, we tagged student goals according to a modified Bloom's taxonomy of learning domains (cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor). The gender-specific responses that we found were related to the students' self-efficacy, teamwork, and peer learning. Together, Julianne, Jon, and I summarized our results in a paper, “Same course, different goals: examining the personal goals of men and women in a project-based engineering environment”, that was accepted to the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference.
Abstract for "Student motivations as predictors of higher-level cognitions in project-based classrooms":
It is well established that active learning helps students engage in higher-level thinking strategies and develop improved cognitive skills. Motivation and self-regulated learning research, however, illustrates that cognitive engagement is an effortful process that is related to students’ valuing of the learning tasks, adoption of internalized goal orientations, and development of personal agency. In this study, we test these relationships by generating multiple regression models that use motivational variables to predict college students’ use of elaboration and critical thinking in project-based courses. We find that elaboration strategies are significantly and positively predicted in regression models based on task value and intrinsic goal orientation, or on task value and self-efficacy. Regression analyses illustrate that models based on task value and intrinsic goal orientation, in combination with either self-efficacy or extrinsic goal orientation, described students’ use of critical thinking strategies. These findings support prior research that shows that student motivations are significantly related to their use of cognitive strategies. The findings extend the existing research base by illustrating the extent to which student motivations may be leveraged to predict cognitive engagement in active, project-based environments.
Abstract for “Same course, different goals: examining the personal goals of men and women in a project-based engineering environment”:
The learning goals of students are not only essential for personal guidance, but they also provide educators insight into individual approaches to learning and student self perceptions. In this study, the learning goals of students in an introductory project-based materials science course were analyzed to determine differences by gender. Student goals were coded according to their inference of different learning domains - cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor – as well as their level of complexity within these domains. Cognitive goals were similar for women and men, while differences by gender appeared in the social, affective, and psychomotor domains. In the social domain, women were more concerned with teamwork and peer learning, while men were focused on confidence in presentations. In the affective and psychomotor domains, the issue of low self-efficacy for some women arose, while men were more eager to express their enthusiasm for the course projects.