Top

Learning Environments Research

Published in:

30-12-2022

Program quality, control, value, and emotions in summer STEM programs: an examination of control-value theory in an informal learning context

Authors: Patrick N. Beymer, Kristy A. Robinson, Neil Naftzger, Jennifer A. Schmidt

Published in: Learning Environments Research | Issue 2/2023

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Control-value theory suggests that students’ control and value appraisals mediate the relation between contextual supports and student emotions in formal learning settings; however, this theory has not been tested in informal learning contexts. Understanding mechanisms for instructional support in informal learning contexts can inform the design of effective instruction both in and out of school. In this study, we tested control-value theory by examining whether youths’ momentary appraisals of control and value for activities mediate the relation between program quality indicators and state emotions in summer STEM programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for middle- and high-school youth. Participants were 203 youth aged 10–16 years attending nine summer STEM programs in the US. Youth ranged in age from 10 to 16. Data were collected via the experience sampling method and video recordings. Trained coders reviewed video footage and coded for program quality. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that most program quality variables explored were not predictive of youths’ appraisals of control and value, but state emotions varied based on program quality. Youth reported lower boredom when active participation and higher-order thinking were rated as high by trained observers. Youth also reported high excitement when activities involved high levels of higher-order thinking. High appraisals of control were associated with high levels of happiness and excitement and low levels of frustration, whereas high appraisals of value predicted high levels of frustration. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

previous article Mathematically productive relationships (MPRs): a potentially effective classroom management approach

next article Physical learning environments’ supportiveness to innovative pedagogies: students’ and teachers’ experiences

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Available only for authorised users

Youth reported their interest on a 4-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (really true) assessing their interest in STEM domains (e.g. I am interested in science; Vandell et al., 2008).

Adams, J. D., & Gupta, P. (2013). I learn more here than I do in school. Honestly, I wouldn’t lie about that: Creating space for agency and identity around science. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 4(2), 87–104.

Becker, E. S., Goetz, T., Morger, V., & Ranellucci, J. (2014). The importance of teachers’ emotions and instructional behavior for their students’ emotions—an experience sampling analysis. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.05.002CrossRef

Beymer, P. N., Rosenberg, J. M., Schmidt, J. A., & Naftzger, N. J. (2018). Examining relationships among choice, affect, and engagement in summer stem programs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 1178–1191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0814-9CrossRef

Bieg, M., Goetz, T., Sticca, F., Brunner, E., Becker, E., Morger, V., & Hubbard, K. (2017). Teaching methods and their impact on students’ emotions in mathematics: An experience-sampling approach. The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 49(3), 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-017-0840-1CrossRef

Bohnert, A. M., Richards, M. H., Kolmodin, K. E., & Lakin, B. L. (2008). Young urban African American adolescents’ experience of discretionary time activities. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18(3), 517–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2008.00569.xCrossRef

Dabney, K. P., Tai, R. H., Almarode, J. T., Miller-Friedman, J. L., Sonnert, G., Sadler, P. M., & Hazari, Z. (2012). Out-of-school time science activities and their association with career interest in stem. International Journal of Science Education, 2(1), 63–79.

DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., & Schutz, P. A. (2014). Researching race within educational psychology contexts. Educational Psychologist, 49(4), 244–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.957828CrossRef

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., & Pachan, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of after-school programs that seek to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3–4), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9300-6CrossRef

Eccles, J., & Gootman, J. A. (2002). Community programs to promote youth development. Institute of Medicine (NAS) * National Academy of Sciences National Research Council.

Fong, C. J., Alejandro, A. J., Krou, M. R., Segovia, J., & Johnston-Ashton, K. (2019). Ya’at’eeh: Race-reimaged belongingness factors, academic outcomes, and goal pursuits among indigenous community college students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 59, 101805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101805CrossRef

Forum for Youth Investment. (2012). Youth program quality assessment. In: David P (Ed.), Weikart center for youth program quality.

Frenzel, A. C., Becker-Kurz, B., Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., & Lüdtke, O. (2018). Emotion transmission in the classroom revisited: A reciprocal effects model of teacher and student enjoyment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(5), 628–639. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000228CrossRef

Goetz, T., Bieg, M., & Hall, N. C. (2016). Assessing academic emotions via the experience sampling method. In M. Zembylas & P. A. Schutz (Eds.), Methodological advances in research on emotion and education. Springer.

Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Stoeger, H., & Hall, N. C. (2010). Antecedents of everyday positive emotions: An experience sampling analysis. Motivation and Emotion, 34(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9152-2CrossRef

Goetz, T., Pekrun, R., Hall, N., & Haag, L. (2006). Academic emotions from a social-cognitive perspective: Antecedents and domain specificity of students’ affect in the context of latin instruction. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(2), 289–308. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709905x42860CrossRef

Greene, K. M., Lee, B., Constance, N., & Hynes, K. (2013). Examining youth and program predictors of engagement in out-of-school time programs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(10), 1557–1572. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9814-3CrossRef

Hektner, J. M., Schmidt, J. A., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2007). Experience sampling method: Measuring the quality of everyday life. Sage Publications.CrossRef

Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118CrossRef

Larson, R. W., & Angus, R. M. (2011). Adolescents’ development of skills for agency in youth programs: Learning to think strategically. Child Development, 82(1), 277–294. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01555.xCrossRef

Larson, R. W., & Dawes, N. P. (2015). Cultivating adolescents’ motivation. In S. Joseph (Ed.), Positive psychology in practice: Promoting human flourishing in work, health, education, and everyday life. Wiley.

Larson, R. W., McGovern, G., & Orson, C. (2019). Youth development programs: Supporting self-motivation in project-based learning. In K. A. Renninger & S. E. Hidi (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of motivation and learning. Cambridge University Press.

Linnenbrink, E. A. (2006). Emotion research in education: Theoretical and methodological perspectives on the integration of affect, motivation, and cognition. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9028-xCrossRef

Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Patall, E. A., & Pekrun, R. (2016a). Adaptive motivation and emotion in education: Research and principles for instructional design. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(2), 228–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732216644450CrossRef

Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Wormington, S. V., & Ranellucci, J. (2016). Measuring affect in educational contexts: A circumplex approach. In M. Zembylas & P. Schutz (Eds.), Methodological advances in research on emotion and education. Springer.

Mahoney, J. L., Schweder, A. E., & Stattin, H. (2002). Structured after-school activities as a moderator of depressed mood for adolescents with detached relations to their parents. Journal of Community Psychology, 30(1), 69–86. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.1051CrossRef

Mohr-Schroeder, M. J., Jackson, C., Miller, M., Walcott, B., Little, D. L., Speler, L., Schooler, W., & Schroeder, D. C. (2014). Developing middle school students’ interests in stem via summer learning experiences: See blue stem camp. School Science and Mathematics, 114(6), 291–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12079CrossRef

Naftzger, N., Devaney, E., & Newman, J. (2015). National scan of 21st CCLC data, impact, and quality improvement systems project—findings report. American Institutes for Research.

Naftzger, N., Moroney, D., Schmidt, J., & Shumow, L. (2014). STEM interest and engagement study (National Science Foundation Grant No: DRL-1421198). National Science Foundation.

Parrisius, C., Gaspard, H., Trautwein, U., & Nagengast, B. (2020). The transmission of values from math teachers to their ninth-grade students: Different mechanisms for different value dimensions. Contemporary Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101891CrossRef

Payton, J., Weissberg, R. P., Durlak, J. A., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., Schellinger, K. B., & Pachan, M. (2008). The positive impact of social and emotional learning for kindergarten to eighth-grade students: Findings from three scientific reviews. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.

Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315–341.CrossRef

Pekrun, R., Frenzel, A. C., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2007). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in education (pp. 13–36). Academic Press.CrossRef

Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91–105. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3702_4CrossRef

Pekrun, R., & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (2014). International handbook of emotion in education. Routledge.CrossRef

Pugh, K., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Phillips, M., & Perez, A. C. (2015). Supporting the development of transformative experience and interest. In K. A. Renninger, M. Nieswandt, & S. Hidi (Eds.), Interest, the self, and K-16 mathematics and science learning (pp. 369–384). AERA.CrossRef

Reeve, J., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2004). Self-determination theory: A dialectical framework for understanding the sociocultural influences on student motivation. In D. M. McInerney & S. Van Etten (Eds.), Research on sociocultural influences on motivation and learning: Big theories revisited. Information Age Press.

Renninger, K. A. (2017). Interest and motivation in informal science learning. National Research Council.

Robinson, K. A., Beymer, P. N., Ranellucci, J., & Schmidt, J. A. (2020). Momentary emotion profiles in high school science and their relations to control, value, achievement, and science career intentions. Motivation Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000174CrossRef

Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An r package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36.CrossRef

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68CrossRef

Schmidt, J. A., Rosenberg, J. M., & Beymer, P. N. (2018). A person-in-context approach to student engagement in science: Examining learning activities and choice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(1), 19–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21409CrossRef

Shah, A. M., Wylie, C. E., Gitomer, D., & Noam, G. (2014). Development of the dimensions of success (DoS) observation tool for the out of school time STEM field: Refinement, field-testing and establishment of psychometric properties. PEAR–Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency.

Shernoff, D. J., & Vandell, D. L. (2007). Engagement in after-school program activities: Quality of experience from the perspective of participants. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(7), 891–903. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-007-9183-5CrossRef

Simonton, K. L., & Garn, A. C. (2020). Control–value theory of achievement emotions: A closer look at student value appraisals and enjoyment. Learning and Individual Differences, 81, 101910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101910CrossRef

Smith, C., & Hohmann, C. (2005). High/scope youth PQA technical report: Full findings from the Youth PQA validation study. High/Scope Press.

Thomas, C. L., & Cassady, J. C. (2019). The influence of personality factors, value appraisals, and control appraisals on cognitive test anxiety. Psychology in the Schools, 56(10), 1568–1582. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22303CrossRef

Vandell, D. L., Shernoff, D. J., Pierce, K. M., Bolt, D. M., Dadisman, K., & Brown, B. B. (2005). Activities, engagement, and emotion in after-school programs (and elsewhere). In H. B. Weiss, P. M. D. Little, & S. M. Bouffard (Eds.), New directions for youth development: No. 105 participation in youth programs: Enrollment, attendance, and engagement. Jossey-Bass.

Vandell, D. L., Warschauer, M., O’Cadiz, M. P., & Hall, V. (2008). Two year evaluation study of the Tiger Woods Learning Center: Volume I, II, III. Tiger Woods Foundation.

Yohalem, N., Wilson-Ahlstrom, A., Fischer, S., & Shinn, M. (2009). Measuring youth program quality: A guide to assessment tools (2nd ed.). The Forum for Youth Investment.

Zirkel, S., Garcia, J. A., & Murphy, M. C. (2015). Experience-sampling research methods and their potential for education research. Educational Researcher, 44(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X14566879CrossRef

Title: Program quality, control, value, and emotions in summer STEM programs: an examination of control-value theory in an informal learning context
Authors: Patrick N. Beymer
Kristy A. Robinson
Neil Naftzger
Jennifer A. Schmidt
Publication date: 30-12-2022
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Learning Environments Research / Issue 2/2023
Print ISSN: 1387-1579
Electronic ISSN: 1573-1855
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-022-09439-5

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 2/2023

Sex and frequency of practical work as determinants of middle-school science students’ learning environment perceptions and attitudes

Stable and unstable associations between learning environment factors and study approaches: two consecutive cross-sectional analyses of Norwegian occupational therapy students

Perspective of educational environment on students’ perception of teaching and learning

A case study of process performances during a small-group activity: comparison between a round-shaped and a crescent-shaped seating arrangements in studio-style learning spaces

Development and validation of the online learning process questionnaire (OLPQ) at home for primary-school children and their caregivers

Physical learning environments’ supportiveness to innovative pedagogies: students’ and teachers’ experiences

Premium Partner