The role of motivation in early mathematics and science education

Children start to engage in math and science long before they enter school and consequently develop first motivational beliefs about these subjects (Fisher, Dobbs-Oates, Doctoroff, & Arnold, 2012; Mantzicopoulos, Patrick, & Samarapungavan, 2008). Moreover, early motivation has been shown to predict children’s future choices and achievement (Eccles, 1999; Leibham, Alexander, & Johnson, 2013). Yet, little is known about young children’s motivation and how it can be fostered in preschool. Moreover, the relevance of teachers’ own motivational beliefs in math and science as well as their practices has not been studied. To fill this gap, the present dissertation examines the role of motivation in early mathematics and science education at the child- and teacher-level in three empirical studies. Study 1 investigated the structure, level and individual differences in children’s science motivation using a new measure. Results supported the differentiation of children’s motivational beliefs into their self-efficacy beliefs and enjoyment in science in line with Eccles et al.’s (1983) expectancy-value-model. On average, children were highly motivated in science. Importantly, older children and children with more science experience showed higher motivational beliefs. Study 2 explored the relation between children’s science motivation, teachers’ own science self-efficacy beliefs and their science practices. Results showed that teachers’ science self-efficacy beliefs were positively related to the frequency of their science practices. Moreover, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs were associated with children’s self-efficacy beliefs in science. No relation was found for teachers’ practices. However, these relations were comprised of gendered patterns: Teachers’ science self-efficacy beliefs were more strongly related to girls’ motivation, whereas the frequency of teachers’ science practices was more strongly related to boys’ motivation in science. Study 3 focused on teachers’ mathematical self-efficacy beliefs and investigated the relation to their professional knowledge in math. Regression results revealed that teachers’ mathematical content knowledge (CK) was associated with their mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). However, additional analyses showed that this relation was mediated by teachers’ self- efficacy beliefs: The higher teachers’ mathematical CK, the more confident they were in mathematics, and the more likely they were to recognize mathematical elements in children’s play - one important aspect of their PCK. Taken together, the results reveal that (1) assumptions underlying the expectancy-value-model (Eccles et al., 1983) can be applied to children ages 5-6 and that (2) individual differences in children’s motivation exist at the preschool level. Results further show that (3) teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are related to their practices and children’s motivation and that (4) some of these relations are moderated by children’s gender.

Author dc:creator

• Oppermann, Elisa

• science
• early childhood
• motivation
• mathematics
• preschool

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://www.fu-berlin.de/sites/refubium/rechtliches/Nutzungsbedingungen

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-12722

OAI record oai:identifier

https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Arefubium.fu-berlin.de%3Afub188%2F8523