Examining Science Teachers' Changes in Practice Following Motivation-Focused Professional Learning

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Seventeen
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Identity and Motivation: Novel Approaches to Enduring Questions (Table 9)

Abstract

We sought to illuminate the process of translating motivation research into instructional practice by examining teachers’ accounts of their attempts to develop more motivationally supportive instruction following their involvement in a motivation-focused professional learning (PL) opportunity. Eighteen 7th-grade science teachers participated in PL focused on five motivation design principles (MDPs), then attempted to implement the MDPs during classroom instruction. Pre- and post-survey data and semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 11 teachers provided evidence of teachers’ self-reported changes in practice. Our analysis yielded evidence of alignment between key activities from the PL and the teaching practices that teachers reported using in the classroom. Evidence also suggests that teachers’ implementation of MDPs was affected by their pre-existing beliefs about motivation.

Authors

• Samuela Mouzaoir, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Pei Pei Liu, Colby College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brooke Harris-Thomas, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Alexandra Lee, LearnPlatform by Instructure
  Presenting Author

• Katherine M Conklin, University of Nevada - Las Vegas
  Presenting Author

• David McKinney, WestEd
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christopher J. Harris, WestEd
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gwen C. Marchand, University of Nevada - Las Vegas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer A. Schmidt, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author