THE INFLUENCE OF INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS on STUDENT MOTIVATION, ATTITUDES, VALUES, SELF CONFIDENCE AND WORK EFFORT

Student motivation, values, attitudes, learning regulation and other components of the affective domain both promote and limit learning. For example, multiple studies have demonstrated that some aspects of student motivation have more significant influences on college student learning (reflected by grades and concept inventories) than does student ability measured by standardized test results. Different approaches to instruction may (1) directly promote different amounts of learning, and (2) change student affect, further promoting or limiting learning.

The GARNET study investigated the influence of the affective domain on >800 students in introductory geology classes taught by 14 instructors at 7 colleges/universities. The most significant affective characteristics that predict student success upon entering a course are student confidence (self-efficacy) and willingness to work hard and persist (effort regulation). During a semester, both of these change, almost always in a negative direction regardless of the specific school/class/instructor.

Results from two sections of Introductory Geology at the University of North Dakota show profound effects of different teaching styles on similar groups of students. One class (A) was a traditional lecture class with student grades primarily based on two one-hour exams and a final. The other (B) was more learner centered, involving in-class group activities, projects, homework, and significantly less emphasis on lecture and exams. Although final letter grade distribution was about the same for both classes, numerical scores differed (max=80, avg=68 for A; max=100, avg=86 for B). For students in class A, confidence and work habits declined markedly during the semester, and test anxiety grew. For students in class B, confidence and habits declined only slightly, and test anxiety decreased.

The ways we teach our class, evaluate student learning, and assign grades have significant impact on student affect and may have implications beyond our immediate classroom. Students have greater self-efficacy, work harder and persist in the face of difficulty, and have less text anxiety in student-centered classes. Consequently they have the potential to learn more, and have better motivation, values, attitudes, and learning regulation when they leave the classroom.