Undergraduate Biology Students' Motivation to Engage in Relevance Writing: An Interview Study

• In Event: 56.082 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: 56.082-1 - Motivation, Learning, and Instruction in STEM

Abstract

Research has shown that interventions to promote academic content relevance promote students’ motivation in the course: their interest, engagement, and achievement. However, research has overlooked students’ motivation to engage in the relevance intervention itself. This study investigated the motivational processes underlying undergraduate students’ access of relevance writing interventions in an introductory biology course. Semi-structured interviews with purposefully sampled 20 students pointed to five themes within the two units of analysis of course and the intervention: Heavy Workload, Fast Paced Environment, Exam Structure, Accountability, Learning Strategies. These findings point to students’ motivation for the intervention, which may afford insight differential effects of the intervention and into improving their design and administration.

Authors

• Mariel Halpern, Temple University

• Carly Champagne, Temple University

• Avi Kaplan, Temple University

• Ting Dai, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Yonaton S. Davidson, Temple University

• Jennifer G. Cromley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Tony Perez, Old Dominion University

• Kyle Mara

• Michael Balsai