Motivation & Achievement

Achievement = grades and performance on standardized tests  

• Achievement is related to IQ 

• Engagement = achievement 

  • Engagement matter in early development through early adulthood 

Engagement in School 

• Behavioral Engagement (What children Do)

  • Involvement in classroom activities 

  • Effort on schoolwork (spending time on homework)

• Cognitive Engagement 

  • Attention in class 

  • Planning and monitoring 

• Affective Engagement 

  • Interest in school 

Does children’s engagement change over time? Why? 

Are there differences among children in their engagement? Why? 

Normative Changes 

• Engagement starts high in elementary school but tends to decline sharply from elementary to middle school, and then again in middle to highschool 

Changes in School Environment

• Greater emphasis on evaluation (more focus on grades, less focus on effort, ability grouping, focus on social comparison) 

  • More focus on comparing yourself in adolescence, children begin to get discouraged 

  • Children have less control (teachers make decisions, serve as disciplinarian) 

  • Peer culture (engagement in school devalued) 

Perceived Peer Engagement 

• Children perceive their children to be more disengaged entering middle school, 6th grade significant year

• As children get older, they see their peers as more disengaged 

Who is Cool?

• Once children are in middle school, the more disengaged from school children are, the more cool other kids see them. 

  • positive correlation in 4th and 5th grade 

  • high correlation in 7th and 8th grade 

• Associated with peer culture and what other perceive as cool 

Why is there a decline?

• Changes in the school environment 

  • Greater emphasis on evaluation 

  • Children have loss control 

  • Peer Culture 

• Changes in Children 

  • Concern about evaluation 

  • Desire for autonomy 

  • Competing interests 

• Poor stage-environment fit = decline in engagement 

Universal? China Case 

• In the U.S. engagement levels decline as children go into middle school. 

• In China engagement levels stay constant throughout elementary throughout middle school. 

Why is there a difference? Views of Teens 

• Rated how common attributes are of teens versus younger children:

  • Family obligation 

    • Example: act as a responsible member of the family 

  • School engagement 

    • Example: pay attention in class more 

• Higher the score the more relative it is for teen than children 

• In the US teens view children to be more engaged and more involved in the family.

• In China teens view teens as more engaged and more involved in the family. 

  • In China, in middle school, more engaged children are more popular 

  • And children become more like popular children over time. 

  • Cultural specific phenomenon 

Major Questions 

• Does children’s engagement change over the course of school? Why?

• Are there differences among children in their engagement? Why?

Children’s Responses to Challenge 

Carol Dweck Paradigm 

• Solvable problems 

• Failure exposure (unsolvable problems) 

• Solvable problems 

  • 70% Mastery response (love a challenge)

    • Enagegd, persistent, solution-oriented (not focus on failure)

    • Effort attributions 

    • Positive affect (pride,enjoyment) 

    • Sustained or enhanced performance

  • 30% Helpless response (hope this is over soon) 

    • Disengaged, give up 

    • Ability attributions 

    • Negative affect (shame, anger) 

    • Deterioration in performance 

• Achievement Goals 

  • Performance Goal 

    • Show that are smart 

    • get good grades performance > learning challenge = threat 

    • High challenge —>for helpless low engagement 

    • Low challenge —>for high mastery engagement 

  • Mastery Goal 

    • Improve skills 

    • gain knowledge 

    • enjoying learning 

    • challenge = learning 

    • Low or High challenge —> mastery high  engagement 

What Predicts Achievement Goals 

• Mindset about Intelligence

  • People have a certain amount of intelligence, and there is nothing you can do to change it.  

• Dwecks Model 

  • Fixed Mindset —> Performance Goal —> Mastery High engagement and Helpless Low engagement 

  • Growth Mindset —> Mastery Goal —> Mastery High Engagement 

• Benefits to Mindsets for Engagement 

  • Low Fixed Mindsets enjoy school more overall showing a growth mindset 

  • Low Fixed Emotional Mindsets enjoy school overall 

• Achievement gap in higher and lower socioeconomic classes 

  • Conclusion: Growth mindsets can partially make up for poverty. But the study also found that poor children are less likely to have growth mindsets 

How to Promote Healthy Motivation and Achievement; The role of praise (Muller & Dweck) 

• Easy problems = success and got positive feedback 

• Praise Conditions—> 

  • You must be smart at these problems (ability) 

  • No additional praise 

  • You must have worked hard at these problems (effort)

• They they got hard problems to solve 

• Children who got ability praise had lower growth mindset, while kids who were given effort praise had a higher growth mindset 

Key Questions 

• Can we change mindsets?

  • Yes 

  • Meta-Analysis of Mindset 

    • Metal-analysis: Combine effects across many different studies 

      • Goal-related behavior 

        • Effect size= 0.18 (very very small)

      • Academic performance 

        • Effect size- 0.09 (very small) 

        • Focal group effect size = 0.14 (very small) 

• Do these changes translate into better academic performance? 

  • very small effect 

• For whom are mindset interventions most effective? 

  • Effect size = 0.9 (very small)

  • Focal group effect size = 0.14 (very small) 

  • Children who need them the most 

  • Children with the most support

Summary 

• Children’s Engagement Declines as Enter Adolescence 

  • Poor environment-stage fit 

  • But, not inevitable 

• Children’s Mindsets and goals Contribute to Differences in their Engagement 

  • Type of praise mattes 

• Mindsets and Behavior Can be Changed