Does Gender Still Matter in Student Motivation? How, Why, for What, and for Whom?

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

Does gender still make a difference for student motivation? This international symposium presents new empirical research utilizing different samples (American, Canadian, Australian, Israeli; urban, rural), ages (early childhood to young adults), theoretical frameworks (value-expectancy, ecological, gender development, goal theory), and designs (longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys, experimental) to advance understanding of the development, dynamics, and consequences of gendered patterns of motivation. In contrast with research that focuses on one or the other sex (usually girls), the presentations consider how core constructs of competence and values develop in context and impact the achievement-related self-views, task engagement, and choices of both girls and boys, in sometimes surprising ways. The shared emphasis on social and educational contexts suggests new directions for educational interventions.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Motivation in Education

Chair

• Ruth Butler, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Papers

• Gendered Motivational Processes Affecting High School Mathematics Participation, Aspirations, and Career Plans in Three Countries - Helen M.G. Watt, Monash University; Jenna D. Shapka, The University of British Columbia; Zoe A. Morris, Monash University; Amanda Marie Durik, Northern Illinois University; Daniel P. Keating, University of Michigan

• Gender Differences in the Educational and Vocational Aspirations of Rural Youth - Judith L. Meece, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill; Karyl Jacqueline Shand Askew, University of North Carolina; Soo-yong Byun, The Pennsylvania State University; Bryan C. Hutchins, Center for Developmental Science

• Expectancy-Value Theory and Gendered Academic and Occupational Choices - Jacquelynne Eccles, University of Michigan

• To Prove or Improve: Gendered Strategies of Self-Appraisal Meet Gender Patterns of Learning in Interactions - Ruth Butler, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Discussant

• Sandra Graham, University of California - Los Angeles