EXPLORING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ASSESSMENT, MOTIVATION, AND METACOGNITION

Prior research has established clear connections between carefully implemented formative assessment strategies and student achievement. In addition, there is a clear link between student motivation and academic achievement. Other studies have provided theoretical support for assessment for learning (AfL) techniques by making connections to positive orientations and adaptive behaviors of achievement motivation. AfL strategies promote mastery-oriented learning behaviors including metacognition in the form of self-assessment and learning strategy selection.

We explore the impacts of implementing AfL teaching strategies on student achievement and motivation in a non-majors earth science course targeted toward pre-service elementary educators. Our developmental study began in the spring semester of 2008. We have gathered a comprehensive data set from both the instructor and the students. Data types include measures of conceptual understanding, self-report surveys, quantitative observation techniques, and semi-structured interviews.

This talk provides the theoretical foundation from the achievement motivation tradition founded in educational and cognitive psychology. Next we discuss some specific examples of instruments to measure student motivational orientation and academic behaviors related to metacognition. Finally, examples from data collected over several semesters exploring the connection between assessment, motivation and metacognition will be provided.