This project is examining connections between the affective domain and the cognitive domain for thousands of students in introductory geoscience courses at 8-10 colleges and universities across the United States. These institutions include large research universities, comprehensive universities, small liberal arts colleges and two-year community colleges. GARNET - the Geoscience Affective Research NETwork - is promoting excellence in STEM teaching and learning by examining how students' learning is influenced by their "affective characteristics" (motivation, attitudes, values, beliefs, etc.) and by pedagogical strategies designed to help support student learning and interest in the content. GARNET is helping to fill a little studied, yet highly significant gap in our understanding of student learning of science, by asking "how do students' motivations and beliefs about their learning skills influence their understanding of course content?" This project is integrating research and education by providing fundamental data about the role of the affective domain in learning, while simultaneously helping students develop better learning skills. The project is building on the results of a previous collaborative GARNET project that tested two key hypotheses: (1) the affective domain has a major influence on student learning; and (2) different teaching methods significantly influence student affect and, consequently, learning. Results of that previous project revealed that learning beliefs, such as self-efficacy, were related to student performance but that the use of different instructional strategies had minimal impact on students' affective constructs. This project is moving the original GARNET focus away from what instructors do to improve learning, to study "what students do" to modify their own affect and improve their abilities to learn. The affective domain is linked to a four-stage self-regulated learning cycle that instructors are using to train students to monitor and regulate their affective constructs, and are measuring and evaluating the associated impact on student learning. On the basis of such findings, the project is developing affect-based pedagogical resources and strategies that will allow instructors to develop better introductory geoscience classes and improve student engagement, attitude, and ultimately, learning across a variety of STEM fields.
This collaborative project investigated the role of student affect (e.g., beliefs, motivations, and attitudes related to learning) and instructional practices on student performance in introductory geoscience courses. The goals of the project were to explore two hypotheses: (1) student affect has a major influence on student learning, and (2) different teaching methods significantly influence student affect, and, consequently student learning. Specifically, a team of researchers used demographic and motivation surveys (MSLQ; Motivate Strategies for Learning Questionnaire), learning assessments (pre- and post-tests; grades), and classroom observations (RTOP; Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol) to examine questions about student affect and learning at a variety of types of institutions (research universities, public universities, four-year liberal arts colleges, and two-year community colleges): (1) how do changes in students’ beliefs about learning, motivation, and cognition vary among and across institutions, particularly among community colleges, private colleges, and four-year institutions?; (2) how do students’ beliefs about learning, motivation, and cognition change over the period of instruction?; (3) what kinds of classroom activities and interventions promote student self-regulated learning and have the greatest positive influence on various subscales of the MSLQ?; and (4) what are the links among self-regulated learning strategies, specific affective constructs and student learning? How, and to what extent, does the affective domain enhance or limit student learning in introductory geoscience courses? The project dataset contains complete data for 4065 unique respondents from 127 class sections, taught by 36 instructors at 12 institutions. Most students enrolled in the introductory geoscience courses that we investigated were 18-19 years old, but the age distribution varied considerably by institution type. The ratio of female to male students was near 50:50, and about 80% of students identified themselves as Caucasian, but this proportion varied (65-80% Caucasian) by institution. Most students (60-80%) reported the principle reason or taking the introductory geology course was to satisfy general education requirements. In this study, we generally observed declines, from beginning to end of course, in all of the dimensions of motivation and self-regulation that we examined. The changes in motivation and self-regulation varied with gender, age, class performance, and instructional style. In general, students who initially reported higher motivation and self-regulation at the beginning of the course also reported the least decline in these dimensions at the end of the course. In other words, though most students’ scores decreased across the duration of the course, students with the highest scores at the beginning of the course generally reported the smallest decrease, and these students also tended to earn the highest grades in their courses. Students who entered the course with low motivation and self-regulation generally showed the greatest decrease in these values and earned the lowest course grades. To a significant degree, measures of motivation and self-regulation at the beginning of the course are good predictors of student success in the courses that we studied. We also observed that students in classes taught by more traditional instructors (low RTOP scores) reported smaller decreases in motivation and self-regulation scores compared with those in higher engagement (high RTOP scores) courses. Furthermore, students in the different performance quartiles responded differently to the different types of instruction in each of these courses. Together, these results emphasize the important roles of both student (motivation and self-regulation) and instructor (instructional practices) variables on student learning in introductory geoscience courses.
