Using self determination theory principles to promote engineering students’ intrinsic motivation to learn

• Autores: Kyle F. Trenshaw, Renata A. Revelo, Katherine A. Earl, Geoffrey L. Herman
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 32, no. 3 (Parte A), 2016, págs. 1194-1207
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Research based on Self Determination Theory (SDT) posits that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are importantpsychological needs for fostering intrinsic motivation. Although competence and autonomy are clearly defined in theliterature, relatedness and its role in motivation are less clearly defined, as relatedness is often discussed in terms of projectwork, collaborative learning, and group experiences. This study seeks to describe the salience of students’ motivationtoward learning in a second-year engineering course (Computer Engineering I) that was redesigned to promote students’intrinsic motivation to learn. After completing the redesigned course, 17 students were interviewed about their experiencethroughout the semester. During interviews, students were asked to describe their experiences in the course and to discusshow those experiences affected their motivation. Interviews were coded to capture students’ situational motivationalorientations during the course and the psychological needs they mentioned in relation to their experience. The analysis ofstudents’ descriptions overwhelmingly pointed to relatedness as the most salient need in supporting their motivation in thecourse. Contrary to expectations based on the SDT literature for K-12 students, the analysis revealed a lesser salience ofcompetence and autonomy for the college students in our study. Students’ statements were coded least frequently aspertaining to autonomy out of the three psychological needs of SDT, even though the course designer’s primary goal was tosupport students’ autonomy. While autonomy support within classroom environments does affect students’ motivationwithin the course context, relatedness, rather than autonomy, was most salient in our context. Engineering educatorsshould explore how the social context of large engineering courses may create a deep need for supporting relatedness.