Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Agricultural and Extension Education

The single most important factor that influences motivation in a learning environment is the teacher (Anderman, 2021). Teachers must be able to assess and influence their students' motivation to have an effective learning environment (Bipp & van Dam, 2014; Fortier et al., 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2020; Schunk et al., 2019; Wigfield & Koenka, 2020). Motivation can be built using different tactics based upon a large quantity of factors including student age, teacher age, course content, learning environment setup, and student interest in the content (Ryan & Deci, 2020; Patrick, 2022; Schunk et al., 2019; Wigfield & Koenka, 2020). Career-Technical Education (CTE) is unique from other education subjects because CTE courses are typically not required and students, alongside their parents or guardians, decide to enroll in the program annually. School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) is just one of many areas with CTE programming. SBAE programs can offer a collection of unique activities within their program thanks to the three parts of the program: agriculture classroom, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), and FFA. SBAE programs are motivational to their students because of the novelty of events or activities for students to participate within (Baker & Robinson, 2017). Additionally, using a variety of coaching techniques and providing student-specific support is essential to keeping students motivated and interested in activities (Bowling, 2017; Curry 2017). The purpose of this quantitative study was to explain the relationship among student demographic information (age and years of enrollment in SBAE), and success expectancies, utility value, relative costs on the students' achievement-related choices and performance within the SBAE program. Objective one utilized descriptive methods to learn about the perspectives held by students (n = 70) regarding their expectancies for success within the SBAE program. The findings regarding the success expectancies for the stude (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tracy Kitchel (Advisor); Caryn Filson (Committee Member); Amanda Bowling (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Secondary Education; Teaching

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2007, Classroom Teacher

A purposive literature review was used in this study to develop a knowledge base on motivational factors impacting enrollment of African-American students in postsecondary vocational education program specifically in the STEP II program. This study examined books, articles, reports, and data from student interviews to understand what motivational factors influence decisions. It was found that low enrollment of African- American students in post-secondary vocational education is not only dependent on motivational factors emanating from the students themselves, but also stem from the institutions that offer training programs.

Committee: Colleen Dr. Finegan (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Psychology/Developmental

The goal of this study was to compare students' achievement goal orientation within schools that take a more direct instruction approach to education (e.g., schools that are not affiliated with any educational organization) and schools that take a more constructivist approach to education (e.g., Montessori schools). Participants included 209elementary school students. The results revealed that although Non-affiliated students were more performance oriented than Montessori students, Non-affiliated students and Montessori students had an equal level of mastery orientation. Additionally, the results indicated that both Montessori and Non-affiliated student were more mastery oriented than performance oriented. Lastly, it was found that students' mastery orientation was related to adaptive outcomes.

Committee: Dara Musher-Eizenman (Advisor); Yiwei Chen (Committee Member); Catherine Stein (Committee Member); Dafina Stewart (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1969, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1964, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2024, Psychology

Helicopter parenting (HP), characterized by excessive parental involvement, has garnered increased attention due to its negative relations with college students' social, affective and academic functioning. This study investigated the relation between helicopter parenting and child college academic achievement by testing two mediation models and one moderation model. Data from 210 college students were analyzed. The mediation models revealed an overall significant negative relation between HP and GPA (c path; B = -.10, p = .022). Model 1 tested if learning strategies mediated this relation. They did not (c' path; B = -.09, p = .025). Model 2 tested if motivation mediated the relation. It did not (c' path; B = -.08, p = .042). HP was unrelated to both learning strategies (a path; B = -.02, p = .674) and motivation (a path; B = -.06, p = .290). Model 3 tested if learning difficulties moderated the relation between HP and GPA. It did not. The interaction was not significant (B = .004, p = .492). However, exploratory analyses found a significant positive zero-order relation between HP and the relative importance of their child's academic achievement to themselves and to their child (r = .44). HP was higher when academic achievement was more important to the parent than to the child. Additional analyses indicated that this importance score fully mediated the association between helicopter parenting and GPA (c' path; B = .02; p = .715) indicating that as helicopter parenting increased GPA declined and this was mediated by perceived academic importance. These results suggest that rather than affecting learning skills or even student motivation, the negative effects of HP are exerted through more difficult to measure factors such as the parent/child relationship and socioemotional processes.

Committee: Susan Kenford PhD (Advisor); Tammy Sonnentag PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Gibson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

For many years, systemic academic achievement gaps between first-generation college students (FGS; e.g., students whose parents/guardians do not have four-year college degrees) and continuing-generation college students (CGS; e.g., students with at least one parent/guardian who has a college degree) have been documented. However, this literature does not consider the matriculation pathways of FGS in higher education. This is important, as many FGS begin their college careers in community college prior to transferring into four-year universities. The studies examining the educational psychology and academic performance of FGS only focus on FGS who matriculate into four-year universities as first-year students. Thus, it is necessary to examine how community college matriculation and transfer relates to the beliefs, perceptions, behaviors, and academic achievement of FGS in four-year universities. Researchers suggest that FGS, who often come from lower- and working-class backgrounds, tend to espouse collectivistic motives for attending college. These reasons can include wanting to make their families proud, honor their family names, and/or give back to their communities. This is in contrast to CGS, who tend to espouse more individualistic motives for attending college including identity exploration, personal enjoyment, and personal financial gain. According to cultural mismatch theory, the prevailing cultural value systems at four-year universities align more with the beliefs of CGS than FGS, which results in psychological and academic issues for FGS. However, there is preliminary evidence that community colleges offer a better fitting cultural environment for FGS, with the implication being that FGS who matriculate into community colleges prior to four-year universities may be buffered against the negative outcomes of cultural mismatch often documented in the literature. This prospect is, as yet, untested. To address this gap in the literature, I examined the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Shirley Yu (Advisor); Eric Anderman (Committee Member); Christopher Wolters (Committee Member); Minjung Kim (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Anatomy

A knowledge of human anatomy is essential to most health professions and therefore is a core curricular course in most health professional education programs. Many professional programs now recommend or require their applicants to take a gross anatomy course during their undergraduate career. It is important for undergraduate students to perform well, or achieve good grades, in their anatomy courses so that they can be accepted into a health professional program. Academic performance is strongly influenced by student achievement motivation, or the willingness to instigate and sustain goal-directed activities. Motivation is critical to performance in complex curricula such as gross anatomy courses. In this study, two theoretical motivation frameworks are referenced to explain student motivation: Situational Expectancy Value Theory and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy. Undergraduate students enrolled in Anatomy 2300 during the Spring 2021 at the Ohio State University were given motivation surveys at the beginning and end of the semester. Self-reported demographic information and course grades were collected from the course director. Of the 872 students enrolled in Anatomy 2300, 49 students fully participated and completed both motivation surveys. Hierarchical multiple linear regression, paired t-tests, and related-samples Wilcoxon signed rank tests were performed to analyze the data. The results indicated that perceived task difficulty increased over the semester, while all other measures of achievement motivation decreased. Motivation significantly predicted course performance. Specifically, ability/expectancy for success predicted all exam scores and the final course grade. End-of-semester motivation was a better predictor of academic performance than the change in motivation during the semester. Demographics did not influence any of the relationships between motivation and academic performance.

Committee: Claudia Mosley (Advisor); Shirley Yu (Committee Member); Melissa Quinn (Committee Member); James Cray (Advisor) Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Educational Studies

Both classroom goal structures and familial ethnic socialization (FES) have been deemed important determinants of student outcomes and adaptive beliefs, such as positive beliefs about learning from errors. However, it is not clear what happens if the messages students are receiving from these influences conflict. This study examines the relations of classroom goal structures and FES to students' beliefs about errors, and the interactions between classroom goal structures, FES, and race for Black and African American students compared to students who are not Black or African American. Findings suggest that mastery classroom goal structures play a significant role in students' beliefs about errors, but other factors and the examined interactions are not significant. This study has limitations in terms of sample size and program context, and future research should be conducted to further explore these relationships.

Committee: Eric Anderman (Advisor); Shirley Yu (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Educational Studies

High effort is important for success in challenging STEM courses. However, gender stereotypes about ability in STEM fields often associate high effort with low ability, particularly for women. Thus, it is important to disentangle the complex and gendered relations between effort and ability to promote gender equity in STEM. Researchers suggest that social comparisons of effort lead students to view high effort as an indication of low ability. To date, however, social comparisons of effort have been largely underexplored. In addition, little work has examined how effort can be a cause and an effect of ability. As a result, there is a lack of knowledge about social comparisons of effort and the reciprocal relationships between effort and ability in postsecondary STEM education. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined two perceptions of effort: (a) criterion effort (i.e., students' perceived levels of effort they expend for a task with reference to their own typical effort; e.g., the perception of trying hard), (b) comparative effort (i.e., students' perceived levels of effort they expend for a task with reference to their perceptions of effort others expend for an equivalent task; e.g., the perception of trying harder than others). This study investigated (a) the reciprocal relations between two perceptions of effort (comparative effort, criterion effort), science self-concept, achievement (midterms, final exam), and STEM pursuit (intention to leave STEM), (b) gender differences in these relations in undergraduate chemistry. I recruited undergraduate students (N = 690) in introductory chemistry courses and administered online surveys at three times during a semester. Results from multiple group cross-lagged panel analysis showed three noteworthy findings. First, women's science self-concept was positively associated with criterion effort but negatively associated with comparative effort. Second, criterion effort was negatively associated with wom (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Shirley Yu (Committee Chair); Minjung Kim (Committee Member); Tzu-Jung Lin (Committee Member); Christopher Wolters (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2022, Psychology

Many students who struggle with inattention and hyperactivity (I/H) underachieve academically, even when symptoms do not reach a level qualifying for a clinical diagnosis. A decrease in academic motivation has been identified as an explanatory factor for this relationship in populations of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but has not been tested in a community sample. Students with ADHD often experience difficulties in relationships with peers and teachers. School connectedness, which encompasses these relationships, may promote achievement for students experiencing I/H. The current study explored relationships among symptoms of I/H, school connectedness, academic motivation, and achievement. This study employed a community sample of upper elementary school students and predicted that there would be a negative relationship between symptoms of I/H, explained by academic motivation, and that this relationship would be impacted by levels of school connectedness. Results did not indicate a significant relationship between symptoms of I/H and achievement. However, both symptoms and school connectedness predicted academic motivation. Unexpectedly, higher academic motivation was associated with lower achievement. Findings from this study support the importance of fostering school connectedness for all students and indicate that additional work is needed to better understand how to promote achievement for students experiencing I/H.

Committee: Paul Flaspohler (Advisor); Jennifer Green (Committee Member); Elizabeth Kiel (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

This pilot study examined the feasibility of guided goal setting within Socratic seminar and its effects on the achievement and motivation of International Baccalaureate students in an MYP language and literature class. Participants were eighth-grade students enrolled in four language and literature classes with the same instructor. The experimental group (two classes, n = 30) received guided goal setting for six weeks, while the waitlist control group (two classes, n = 24) received the intervention during the last two weeks. As this was a pilot study, inferential statistics were limited, and the study focused insteadon descriptive statistics. Descriptive analyses identified many positive outcomes of the guided goal-setting intervention for the experimental group, including increased number of contributions over time. However, when data were examined by race, gender, and goal type, some differences were observed. White students contributed more often during seminar and achieved their goals more frequently than Black students. Female students contributed more frequently during seminar than male students. Students who chose questions or evaluative/interpretative goals made more contributions than students with verbal or factual goals. However, students with questions and factual goals achieved said goals more frequently. The feasibility results and descriptive statistics of this pilot study suggest that guided goal setting resulted in several positive differences in student achievement. A larger-scale study should be conducted with modifications to the research design as indicated. Additional research questions exploring racial, gender, and goal type differences should also be explored.

Committee: Bradley Morris (Advisor); Christopher Was (Committee Member); Patricia Grutzmacher (Committee Member); Andrew Wiley (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Psychology

MAE, Otterbein University, 2019, Education

This study was a quantitative, quasi-experimental study, comparing 4 classes, studying an 8th grade science unit in a gamified classroom within a suburban middle school. A “Leveling Up” intervention was used in a gamified classroom with the experimental group and compared to a control group in a gamified classroom not using the leveling up intervention. The three driving questions of this study are: Q1)Does Gamification with Leveling Up Promote Learning in an 8th Grade Science Unit more than Gamification Alone? Q2) Does Gamification with Leveling Up Promote Motivation to Learn Science in an 8th Grade Science Unit more than Gamification Alone? And Q3) Does Gamification with Leveling Up Increase Students Perception of Their Motivation? The data showed no significant findings to improve achievement, homework completion or self reported motivation on the survey.

Committee: Paul Wendel (Advisor); Diane Ross (Committee Member); Dee Knoblauch (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2020, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

This study examines motivational factors and how they affect student achievement, as well as teacher and student perceptions of these factors in a STEM school. The focus of this research is to determine if there is an association between overall reported motivation and student achievement as measured by End of Course performance and Grade Point Average (GPA) in a STEM school. This study utilizes mixed-methods research and examines the MUSIC® Model of Motivation which educators use to assess motivation and study students' perceptions of their classes (Jones, 2017). This research investigates the factors in the MUSIC® Model of Motivation and the effect of motivational factors on student achievement and learning. The research suggests a correlation between the success factor and achievement as measured through state-mandated End of Course assessments (Ohio Department of Education, 2018). The results suggest the strongest correlation between motivation and achievement (End of Course) in American History. The research examines student and educator perceptions of motivational factors. Both educators and students perceive the caring factor to be the highest. Interest is the lowest scoring factor for students while empowerment is the lowest scoring factor for teachers. Educators summarize through interviews the role of the educator as a facilitator of learning and a motivator that combines the factors to engage students. Educators in this study strongly emphasize the importance of the caring factor in a school setting. They argue that this factor is crucial in the STEM school, which is a public school of choice. The research implements reflective practices through qualitative research questions based on the quantitative results. Keywords: motivation, caring, achievement, success, STEM

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Committee Chair); Lauren Cummins PhD (Committee Member); Patrick Spearman PhD (Committee Member); Sharon Stringer PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Mathematics Education; School Administration; Science Education; Teacher Education; Teaching; Technology

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2019, Education

Athletic training education is evolving which increases the importance of retaining athletic training students in athletic training programs. Research has demonstrated that athletic training students are motivated to persist through an athletic training program, however, the type of motivation has not been studied. This study aims to analyze professional athletic training students' achievement goal orientation and grit scores as they relate to their persistence in athletic training programs. A mixed-methods approach utilizing the grit scale, achievement goal orientation survey, and open-ended questions to understand bachelor- and master-level professional athletic training students' approach to persisting in an academic program. Analysis of the data demonstrated that athletic training students believe persistence, academic and clinical experiences, passion for the profession, knowledge retention, and key mentors and support play roles in their persistence through athletic training programs. Also, there are no differences in grit scores or achievement goal orientation between bachelor- and master-level athletic training students (p>.05). However, there is a difference between the achievement goal orientations (mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidant, work-avoidant) in all athletic training students (p<.001). Mastery is significantly higher than all other achievement goal orientations. Also, grit and mastery goal orientation have a moderate positive correlation (r=.379, p<.001) and all other achievement goal orientations have a significant negative correlation with grit. Therefore, educators need to understand how students are motivated to provide the support which reflects their needs to maintain drive and passion for athletic training.

Committee: John Cindric (Committee Chair); Kimberly Peer (Committee Member); Chris Moser (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Health Care; Higher Education; Sports Medicine

Master of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2019, Education

The purpose of this study was to look at the lack of motivation and engagement of fifth graders in a face-to-face instructional environment. By implementing a blended learning approach that was developmentally appropriate for middle grades instruction, the researcher could better motivate and engage students to achieve maximum growth in social studies. The research questions that guided this study relate to instructional mode, student motivation, student engagement and academic achievement. The study was conducted as an action research study using a multi-methods design to further the research on the impact of blended learning on student motivation and engagement at the middle grades level. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used. The findings indicated the experimental class was more motivated, engaged and reported higher post-test scores or greater academic growth in fifth grade social studies.

Committee: Amy McGuffey Dr. (Advisor); Angie Heath (Committee Member); Michael Daiga Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Elementary Education; Middle School Education

PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

According to the TIMSS 2015 international study findings, students who enjoy learning mathematics a lot scored much higher (average 61 points) than the students who do not enjoy it a lot. Enjoying learning mathematics is one of the indicators of the construct “intrinsic motivation” towards mathematics, and this type of other constructs, such as confidence, attainment value, and utility value were found to have significant contributions in students' academic achievement in previous studies. This study considered the Expectancy-Value Theory (E-VT) of achievement motivation and the Social Equity Theory (SET) to investigate racial-ethnic gaps in achievement motivational constructs as well as achievement scores of U.S. eighth-grade students in the mathematics and science domains. The TIMSS 2011 U.S. national data on mathematics and science were utilized to answer four research questions. The first research question addressed the psychometric properties of the achievement motivation scales in the TIMSS 2011 Student Background Questionnaire, and the findings of this study confirmed sound evidence regarding the construct, convergent, and divergent validity of the scales. The second research question looked for the racial-ethnic gaps in achievement motivational constructs. A series of measurement invariance tests confirmed that the racial-ethnic groups (Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White students) are not comparable after controlling for students' relative standing or ability levels on the constructs. The third and fourth research questions sought to determine the extent to which the E-VT and the SET explain variance in mathematics and science achievement. This study results showed that the E-VT constructs explain more within-group variance in the mathematics domain (with moderate to large effect sizes) than the science domain (with moderate effect sizes), and the SET variables explain the almost similar amount of within-group variance in both domains (with moderate effect (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jason Schenker Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Tricia Niesz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lisa Borgerding Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Evaluation; Educational Tests and Measurements

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies /Kinesiology

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was threefold. The main purpose was to investigate the effects of motivational factors on self-handicapping (SH) in collegiate athletes. Second, this study aimed to examine the relationship between self-esteem and SH. Lastly, this study sought to explore gender differences in SH in athletes. Method: Collegiate athletes (N = 43) from the softball and baseball teams at a Midwestern Division I university completed surveys at three different time points. During the first assessment, athletes completed a battery of questionnaires assessing their trait SH, perceptions of the motivational climate, dispositional goal orientations, self-esteem, and ratings of game importance. The second and third assessments were determined by the athletes' game importance ratings. During assessments two and three, athletes were given the opportunity to claim impediments and coaches completed assessments of practice effort. Results: Initial multiple regression analyses revealed sport to be the only significant predictor for claimed SH. Thus, all subsequent analyses were conducted for softball and baseball separately. Mastery climate significantly predicted the number of claimed impediments (p < .05) and self-reported impact (p < .05) for the less important game for softball. Task-approach orientation significantly predicted self-reported impact (p < .05) for the more important game for softball. Self-esteem significantly predicted behavioral SH (p < .05) for the less important game for baseball. Conclusion: These findings suggest that gender differences may exist in SH strategies in collegiate athletes. Additionally, motivational factors appear to be important in predicting SH. Notably, task-approach orientation may be an avenue to explore for decreasing SH strategies used by athletes. Furthermore, the current study provides further evidence supporting the negative relationship between self-esteem and SH.

Committee: David Tobar PhD (Advisor); Adrian Turner PhD (Committee Member); Bonnie Berger PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Kinesiology; Psychology

Specialist in Education, Miami University, 2017, Educational Psychology

This study examined the impact of a college level learning strategies course on academically at-risk students' levels of self-efficacy and achievement motivation. These variables were measured using three self-report measures. Results were analyzed via t-tests to determine whether the participants experienced an increase in self-efficacy and achievement motivation at the conclusion of the course. It was found that the participants experienced statistically significant increases in levels of self-efficacy and in one of three measurements of achievement motivation. In addition, the GPAs of students enrolled in the course were examined for changes from the beginning of the course to the end and were found to have increased. Limitations of the study and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Committee: Amity Noltemeyer (Advisor); Darrel Davis (Committee Member); Kathy Goodman (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Secondary Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1984, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology