Poster #45 - Does Autonomy Support Really Matter in Science Education?

• In Event: 64.090 - MTCC Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: 64.090-8 - Role of Teachers, Learning Environments, Parents, and Peers in Motivational Processes

Abstract

Supporting students’ autonomy is essential to ensure they become self-regulated and motivated learners. Such support can increase students’ perceived competence and their enjoyment, which in turn leads to better learning. However, only few studies investigated the impact of autonomy support in science education. Our studies take this up in two school-based settings: (1) regular science classes and (2) cross-age-peer-tutoring as a means of extracurricular science education. Our first study confirmed that learners’ perception of their teachers' autonomy support indeed predicts how competent they perceived to be and how much they enjoyed learning. Our second study replicated these findings for cross-age-peer-tutors’ autonomy support. Overall, autonomy support seems crucial for and should be fostered in science education.

Authors

• Thomas Schlake, University of Duisburg-Essen

• Robert Aleksov, University of Duisburg-Essen

• Heiko Krabbe, Ruhr University Bochum

• Hendrik Härtig, University of Duisburg-Essen

• Maria Opfermann, Ruhr University Bochum

• Hans Ernst Fischer, University Duisburg - Essen