Students' Contextualized Constructions of Mastery-Approach Goals Within Inquiry and Traditional Science Classrooms

• In Event: Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Approaches to Studying Motivation

Abstract

We draw on a sociocultural view of achievement goals to explore students’ constructed meanings of mastery-approach goals adopted within two sociocultural contexts. Students reported mastery goal constructions during interviews eliciting their survey item interpretations. We examined whether certain mastery constructions are more frequently reported and higher quality in inquiry or traditional science classrooms. Results indicated that students’ constructions of what it means to master significantly differed between contexts. Inquiry students reported significantly more well-aligned, high-quality mastery meanings for deepening understanding through the application of deep-level strategies. Traditional students expressed misaligned mastery meanings, involving knowing the teacher’s right answers through attentiveness and efficiency. These findings suggest students’ constructions of mastery goals vary from researchers’ framings and require accounting for their context-specificity.

Authors

• Temitope F. Adeoye, Purdue University

• Dongyao Tan, Purdue University

• Karlyn R. Adams-Wiggins, Portland State University

• Toni Kempler Rogat, Purdue University