Young Adult Learners: Meeting Expectations and Finding Value

• In Event: 28.081 - Science Teaching and Learning SIG Paper Session: Change

Abstract

This paper draws on a National Science Foundation-funded project that engages students in a combination of relevant content learning and project-based investigations that enable them to experience STEM content in relation to the world around them. Using the Expectancy Value theoretical framework (Eccles, 2002), we examine the ways in which students’ values of science and expectancies for success contribute to levels of engagement in the program. Though a case study approach, we identify three themes to examine variation in students' motivation and engagement: 1) learning for social justice; 2) learning for career; and 3) learning for personal connections. Findings contribute to greater understanding of how to design learning experiences that tap into students’ values of science and success thereby increasing engagement.

Authors

• Matthew A. Cannady, University of California - Berkeley

• Valeria Romero, University of California - Berkeley

• Rosalinda Nava, University of California - Berkeley