Mastery goals, positive emotions and learning behavior in self-directed vs. teacher-directed learning

Examining different motivational patterns in individualized learning

Past research on situated expectancy-value theory has regularly provided evidence of different motivational patterns indicating that not only can students be characterized by different levels of motivation (e.g., low vs. high), but also by divergent profiles (e.g., high success expectancies, low task values). This person-oriented two-wave study (a) identified and compared the motivational patterns of secondary school students from different learning environments (i.e., Student-Centered Learning vs. Teacher-Directed Learning), (b) analyzed the stability of and changes to these patterns during a school year, and (c) examined whether achievement-related choices and performance predicted the pattern changes. Using data from German secondary school students (T1: N = 1153; M = 13.97 years, SD = 1.37; 49% girls) multigroup latent transition analysis revealed four different motivational patterns, including a (a) High Motivational pattern, (b) Medium Motivational pattern, (c) Low Motivational pattern, and (d) Highly Confident/Hardly Interested pattern. The distribution of these patterns differed significantly between students from Student-Centered-Learning and Teacher-Directed-Learning environments. Approximately 47% of students in Teacher-Directed Learning were in the low motivational class whereas the Student-Centered Learning environment exhibited approximately half of that number. The extremely stable nature of these classes highlights the strong relevance of the educational context for student motivation and supports situated expectancy-value theory.

Impact of information literacy, self-directed learning skills, and academic emotions on high school students' online learning engagement: A structural equation modeling analysis

The adoption of online learning for adolescent students accelerated with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have investigated the mechanisms influencing adolescent students' online learning engagement systematically and comprehensively. This study applied the Presage-Process-Product (3P) model of learning to investigate the direct effects of presage factors (i.e., information literacy and self-directed learning skills) and process factors (i.e., academic emotions) on high school students' online learning engagement; and the mediating role of process factors. Data from 1993 high school students in China (49.3% males and 50.7% females) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The result showed that students' information literacy, self-directed learning skills, and positive academic emotions positively predicted their online learning engagement. Moreover, the positive impact of self-directed learning skills on students' online learning engagement was significantly and largely enhanced through the mediation effects of positive academic emotions (β = 0.606, 95% CI = [0.544, 0.674]). Based on these results, to enhance adolescent students' online learning engagement, it is important for school administrators, teachers, and parents to improve students' information literacy, self-directed learning skills, and positive academic emotions.

Adolescents' enjoyment and effort in class: Influenced by self-directed learning intervals

Based on the control-value theory, the present study examined the development and change of enjoyment and effort among adolescents during a school year. The study analyzed 754 adolescent students (M_Age = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.7% female) who twice participated in a 1-week intervention of self-directed learning (SDL). The results of the bivariate latent neighbor change model showed that-contrary to previous study results-a positive development of enjoyment and effort was generally recorded over the school year and that particularly the two 1-week self-directed learning interventions were beneficial for this increase. Furthermore, the results show that enjoyment and effort were reciprocally linked over time, but only when self-directed learning was experienced first. In other words, by enlarging instruction via self-directed learning intervals, it is possible to counteract the tendency of enjoyment and effort to exhibit a downward spiral. This tendency is especially pronounced during students' entry into secondary school and the onset of adolescence.

Analysis of the Association between Teachers' Classroom Teaching Behaviors and Students' Knowledge Acceptance Based on Psychological Data Analysis

This paper adopts the method of psychological data analysis to conduct in-depth research and analysis on the correlation between teachers' classroom teaching behaviors and students' knowledge acceptance. Firstly, this paper proposes a health factor prediction model, which is specifically divided into clustering and then classification model and a clustering and classification synthesis model. The classroom learning process is coded, sampled, and quantified to obtain data on students' learning behaviors, and a visualization system based on classroom students' learning behaviors is designed and developed to record and analyze students' behaviors in the classroom learning process and grasp students' classroom learning. These two models use algorithms to fine-grained divide the dataset from the perspective of subject users and mental health factors, respectively, and then use decision tree algorithms to classify and predict the mental health factor information by the subject user base information. Second, based on the collected datasets, we designed comparison experiments to validate the clustering-then-classification model and the integrated clustering-classification model and selected the optimal model for comparison. Teachers should increase effective praise and encouragement behaviors; teachers should increase meaningful teacher-student interaction behaviors; teachers should be proficient in teaching media technology to reduce unnecessary time wastage. Strategies to enhance teachers' TPACK include enriching teachers' knowledge base of CK, TK, and PK; developing teachers' integration thinking; and enriching teachers' types of activities for integrating technology.

The role of the learning environment in adolescents’ motivational development

Past research has continuously shown that motivation in school declines across adolescence. To counteract potential declines in educational practice, the present study examines the motivational development of early and middle adolescent students within one school year and across two distinctive learning environments: a conventional teacher-directed learning environment and an individualized student-directed learning environment based on competency matrices. Based on a sample of 1153 (Mage = 13.97, SD = 1.37, 49% girls) students from grades 7 to 10, latent change analyses were conducted to examine within-school year changes in general self-efficacy and intrinsic value. Significant interaction effects of age and learning environment suggest that motivational trajectories may diverge from the consistent motivational declines that have been demonstrated by past research. Students from both learning environments differed in their general self-efficacy, but not in their intrinsic value.

Do Learning Approaches Set the Stage for Emotional Well-Being in College Students?

The research aim of this paper was two-fold: to generate evidence that personality factors are linear predictors of the variable approaches to learning (a relevant cognitive-motivational variable of Educational Psychology); and to show that each type of learning approach differentially predicts positive or negative achievement emotions, in three learning situations: class time, study time, and testing. A total of 658 university students voluntarily completed validated questionnaires referring to these three variables. Using an ex post facto design, we conducted correlational analyses, regression analyses, and multiple structural predictions. The results showed that Conscientiousness is associated with and predicts a Deep Approach to learning, while also predicting positive achievement emotions. By contrast, Neuroticism is associated with and significantly predicts a Surface Approach to learning, as well as negative achievement emotions. There are important psychoeducational implications in the university context, both for prevention and for self-improvement, and for programs that offer psychoeducational guidance.