CAREER: Motivating Effective Strategies to Transform Student Learning

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

How can students be motivated to lean into and use effective learning strategies? The reason why this question is important is not just that effective strategies are more likely to lead to mastery and knowledge growth, but also because they are a more efficient use of learners’ very limited time. That is, the goal is to empower people with the skill of knowing how to learn—the ultimate life skill, useful during, but also beyond, formal schooling. Research on the science of learning has accumulated a lot of insight into the cognitive processes (and pedagogical activities) that foster effective long-term learning. And yet, students often do not use these strategies. The present proposal focuses on the integration of three core sets of psychological components important for effective self-regulated learning: (1) motivational factors to support engaging in difficult ways, (2) metacognitive knowledge about effective and ineffective strategies for learning, and (3) contextual factors that support or hinder students’ effective study decisions and behaviors. Research activities not only advance theory but result in insights that inform policies around teacher training and classroom pedagogies and practical, implementable products to bolster and sustain educational outcomes. The proposed line of research addresses both theoretical and pragmatic gaps in the existing literature—a theoretical gap that bridges cognitive research on learning processes and social-psychology research on motivation within the context of education, and a pragmatic gap between what researchers know about effective learning and what students recognize as effective strategies and do in their study time. This project first maps out the facilitators and barriers to using different strategies using a mixed-methods approach to create a framework detailing the intersecting dynamics between metacognitive beliefs, motivational and contextual factors that drive students’ study choices. Results from this work are then incorporated into the development of interventions to motivate effective studying and course engagement. Rapid iterative development of interventions are co-designed with students and instructors, and then implemented and evaluated in real courses. This work not only advances interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks of motivation and self-regulation, but also brings these theories to bear in real educational contexts. All studies focus on undergraduate learning contexts, given that the need for effective self-regulated learning is particularly important in higher-education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.