Teachers' Relevance Statements and How They Shape Middle School Students' Perceptions of Science Utility

• In Event: 47.031 - Mixed-Methods Research on Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how four middle school science teachers perceived and communicated the relevance of science content in their seventh-grade classrooms, and to examine their students’ perceived utility of daily course content and the domain of science more generally. Teachers’ use of relevance refers to instructional strategies that highlight the meaning, applicability or usefulness of course content beyond the immediate instructional context (Anderman, Andrzejewski & Allen, 2011; Assor, Kaplan & Roth, 2002; Clegg & Kolodner, 2014; Keller, 1987; Muddiman & Frymier, 2009). Relevance strategies presumably promote student motivation and learning because they help students personally value what they are learning and see it as related to the fulfillment of their goals (Assor et al., 2002; Clegg & Kolodner, 2014; Keller, 1987). As a result of increased value, students are more willing to focus attention and effort on coursework that they see as worthwhile, which results in increased engagement and learning. Thus, perceived value is a means through which relevance may positively affect learners. According to Expectancy Value Theory (Eccles et al., 1983; Wigfield & Eccles, 1992; 2000), utility value refers to the valuing of a task in terms of its usefulness for helping with the fulfillment of one’s immediate or future goals, and as such, closely represents the type of value that is theorized to be influenced by relevance strategies.
We used a convergent mixed methods design. In the qualitative strand, we used teacher interviews (n = 4) and conducted classroom observations over a seven-week period to build an understanding of how teachers perceived and communicated the relevance of science content, and for whom, during everyday instruction. In the quantitative strand, students’ (n = 306 from 14 different class sections) perceptions of science utility were measured using repeated self-reports of the usefulness of daily content and traditional surveys assessing global science utility. Integration was achieved at the methods level by exploring how teachers’ relevance statements during classroom observations related to their own stated beliefs during the interviews (qualitative data), and to students’ daily and global perceptions of science utility (quantitative data). The interviews indicated that the teachers varied in terms of the depth and breadth of connections they saw between science content and students’ lives, and these beliefs were largely reflected in the relevance statements we observed teachers make during instruction. When teachers made more frequent relevance statements, their students were more likely to see daily content as useful and had increased perceptions of global science utility. Results highlight the influence of teacher beliefs on practice, as well as the immediate and longer-term effects of relevance strategies on students’ utility beliefs. Our discussion highlights the importance of using mixed methods to understand links between teacher beliefs, teacher practice, and student experience.

Authors

• Jennifer A. Schmidt, Michigan State University

• Stephen S. Kafkas, Northern Illinois University

• Kimberly S. Maier, Michigan State University

• Lee Shumow, Northern Illinois University

• Hayal Zeynep Kackar-Cam, Northern Illinois University