Science Is Too Hard: Daily Perceived Difficulty and the Role of Teacher Autonomy Support

• In Event: Data-Intensive Approaches to Studying Engagement in Education: Exploring Their Current Potential

Abstract

Why­ do some high school students feel incompetent in their science classes and what are the consequences of those feelings of incompetence? One very likely answer to that question is that students may feel incompetent and thus, disengage from class activities when they perceive their science class to be too difficult. In fact, a great deal of research demonstrates that optimal challenge – when there is a balance between the challenge that the task provides and skills a student possesses – supports the perception of competence and is linked to students’ interest, engagement, motivation, and performance while tasks that are mismatched with a student’s skills (either too easy or too hard) are unrelated or negatively related to perceived competence and are linked with disengagement (see Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). However, it is surprising that little is known about how students’ daily experiences in the classroom predict changes in their classroom disengagement. Thus, one of the main purposes of the current study was to examine the extent to which perceptions that class work was too difficult predicted changes in students’ perceptions of competence and disengagement in high school science classrooms on a daily basis.

Perhaps even more importantly, what can science teachers do to help restore students’ sense of competence when class work is perceived to be too difficult? One potential answer lies in the motivational power of autonomy supportive strategies in the classroom, that is, strategies that allow students to use their internal needs, interests, and preferences to guide their learning and activity (e.g., Reeve, Jang, Carrell, Jeon, & Barch, 2004). Thus, the second purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which autonomy supportive practices may buffer the ill effects of students’ perceiving that class work is too hard on any given day.

Two-hundred and eighteen high school students in 43 science classes participated in a daily diary study across a six-week instructional unit. Focusing on the daily-level associations, multilevel modelling revealed that on days when students perceived their science class work to be too difficult, they experienced a decrease in their perceived competence relative to the prior class day, which in turn predicted increased disengagement in science class. In addition, results suggested that the increase in daily disengagement via decreased perceived competence as a function of perceived difficulty was minimized the more students perceived their teachers to provide autonomy support in the classroom on a given day.

Using an intensive longitudinal design, the present research highlights the potential dangers of excessive difficulty and provides direction for potential solutions when difficulty in the classroom is unavoidable. We addressed the limitations of relying on correlation data and self-reports measures. And we hope the findings of this research can provide direction for future research and point to some solutions for teachers hoping to maintain perceptions of competence and engagement even when course work becomes challenging.

Authors

• Sophia Hooper

• Erika Alisha Patall, University of Southern California

• Ariana Christine Vasquez, University of Pittsburgh

• Keenan A. Pituch, The University of Texas - Austin

• Rebecca Rose Steingut, na