motivation | Reidar Mosvold

Janet G. Walter and Janelle Hart have written an article about the interesting issue of Understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning. The article was recently published in The Journal of Mathematical Behavior. Here is the abstract of their article:

Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. However, commonly held distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations may be insufficient to inform our understandings of student motivations in learning mathematics or to appropriately shape pedagogical decisions. Here, motivation is defined, in general, as an individual’s desire, power, and tendency to act in particular ways. We characterize details of motivation in mathematical learning through qualitative analysis of honors calculus students’ extended, collaborative problem solving efforts within a longitudinal research project in learning and teaching. Contextual Motivation Theory emerges as an interpretive means for understanding the complexities of student motivations. Students chose to act upon intellectual-mathematical motivations and social-personal motivations that manifested simultaneously. Students exhibited intellectual passion in persisting beyond obtaining correct answers to build understandings of mathematical ideas. Conceptually driven conditions that encourage mathematical necessity are shown to support the growth of intellectual passion in mathematics learning.

Amanda Jansen has written an article entitled Prospective elementary teachers’ motivation to participate in whole-class discussions during mathematics content courses for teachers. This article was published on Sunday in Educational Studies in Mathematics. Here is the abstract of her article:

Prospective elementary teachers’ (N = 148) motivation to participate in whole-class discussions during mathematics content courses for teachers, as expressed in their own words on an open-ended questionnaire, were studied. Results indicated that prospective teachers were motivated by positive utility values for participating (to achieve a short-term goal of learning mathematics or a long-term goal of becoming a teacher), to demonstrate competence (to achieve performance-approach goals), or to help others (to achieve social goals). Negative utility values for participating were expressed by those who preferred to learn through actively listening. Five motivational profiles, as composed of interactions among motivational values, beliefs, goals and self-reported participation practices, were prevalent in this sample. Self-reported variations among participants’ utility values and participation practices suggested that prospective teachers engaged differentially in opportunities to learn to communicate mathematically. Results provide pedagogical learner knowledge for mathematics teacher educators.