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Volume 4 |
Student Behavior and Motivation in the Middle School by Ann C. Howe |
Middle School Curriculum |
What motivates junior high school pupils to spend their time productively in science class? Does increased effort really lead to higher achievement? In order to study these and other questions we made systematic observation of the behaviors of boys and girls in junior high school science classes. In all the classes studied teachers used an activity centered approach to teaching with much of the time spent in hands-on or laboratory work. Our sample included an equal number of boys and girls and black and white students. In addition to observational data we obtained scores on standard reading and mathematics tests and used final class grades as the measure of achievement.
We defined three categories of behavior. Active Learning Behavior was defined as any behavior, other than reading or writing, directly related to the assigned activity. This included setting up equipment, carrying out an experiment, observing an experiment or discussing the work with a partner. The second category was Passive Learning
Behavior---listening to the teacher, reading or writing. The third category was Non-Learning Behavior, defined as any non-task oriented or non-productive behavior.
Our first finding was that mathematics and reading skills are the most important factors in science achievement at the eighth grade level. Boys and girls who have poor basic skills when they enter eighth grade are not likely to succeed even when the class is based on active involvement. We found that the next most important factor in science achievement was Active Learning Behavior. We found no race or sex differences in behaviors---an interesting finding in view of the assumption held by many people that girls are less active than boys in school and that black students' lower achievement is due to non-attention in class.
We found that reading and math scores and active learning behavior were related to achievement for all groups.
But what motivates pupils to be active in class in productive ways, to engage in Active Learning as opposed to Passive Learning or Non-Learning behaviors? Many researchers who have studied pupil motivation have based their work on the assumption that pupils will direct their efforts toward achieving goals that they value. Therefore, if pupils value success they will work to achieve it. In order to study this question we asked pupils to answer questionnaires to determine whether they valued success in school and particularly in science and whether they attributed success, when they attained it, to their own effort, to their ability, to the ease of the task or just to luck. Then we asked teachers to rate pupils on these variables and pupils responded to questions about their effort, the level of difficulty and the environment of that class.
We found that pupils of both races and sexes do value success in science and that they believe their parents and teachers value it also. There was little to suggest, however, that valuing success is translated into effective effort in the classroom except for one group, the black boys. For that group positive correlations were found between value of success and Active Learning, between teachers' valuing success and Passive Learning, and a negative correlation between teachers valuing success and Non-Attending. Apparently those in this group who value success themselves engage in more Active Learning behaviors and those that think teachers value success engage in more Passive Learning behavior.
Two sex differences in causal attributions were found; boys attributed success more to ability and girls attributed success more to effort. Attribution of success to ability is a sign of self confidence, stronger in boys than in girls, that is not strongly related to actual ability and does not lead to more or less effortful classroom behavior. It is interesting that those who attribute success to ability do not attribute failure to lack of ability. Both attribution of success to effort and to ease of task are associated with increased Passive Learning, the traditional mode of classroom behavior. These pupils are "trying hard" by listening to the teacher and working on in-class assignments. Unfortunately for them, we did not find a relationship between Passive Learning and final grade.
Those who attribute failure to lack of ability do, in fact, have lower grades (i.e., they have more failure), lower SRA-Math scores (possibly a sign of lower ability) and engage in Active Learning less often. A similar pattern emerges for those who attribute failure to the environment (i.e., luck or other external forces). They engage in Active Learning less often, Non-Attending behaviors more often, and have lower SRA-Math scores.