Be Specific: Science Teachers' Utility Value Statements and Students' Immediate and Global Science Utility Perceptions

• In Event: 56.027 - The Influence of Teachers on Students' Motivation and Metacognition

Abstract

Science teachers have many opportunities to influence their students’ science utility value beliefs through their discourse during instruction. However, it is unclear how effective teachers’ statements are in influencing student beliefs. This study analyzed the week-to-week and global relationships between five dimensions of teachers' utility value statements and their students’ utility value beliefs. The results suggest that when teachers’ utility value statements are more specific, either by connecting to their goals, decisions, or career aspirations, targeting individual students, rather than groups of students, and when teachers emphasize the moderate to long-term usefulness of the content their students’ utility value perceptions increase. These results lead to a number of suggestions for further research and implications for teacher practice.

Authors

• Stephen S. Kafkas, Northern Illinois University

• Jennifer A. Schmidt, Michigan State University

• Lee Shumow, Northern Illinois University

• Amanda Marie Durik, Northern Illinois University