Motivation, self-efficacy, and student engagement in intermediate mechanical engineering courses

Abstract

Motivation is a critical component of student learning. Student motivation in the context of academic performance is composed of and influenced by several constructs such as intrinsic goals (learning for learning's sake), extrinsic goals (performance for the sake of a grade, career advancement, or other external validation), self-efficacy (confidence in one's ability to succeed with sufficient work), and value (belief that class activities are worthwhile). Much of the literature on motivation in engineering has focused on persistence beyond introductory courses, career choice, and differences between engineering majors. However, our interviews with mechanical engineering students have revealed that students may form motivational beliefs and identities related to a specific subfield within their major (e.g. 'I see myself as a mechatronics person, but not a fluids person) and therefore we expect to find differences in responses between course contexts for the same student. We measured motivation and attitudes towards learning in a cohort of students simultaneously enrolled in three upper-division mechanical engineering courses. We adapted portions of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) into two surveys: an online survey asking students to reflect on all of their mechanical engineering courses ('cohort context), and a paper survey delivered during class in each of the three courses ('course context). The cohort-context survey included questions related to intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. The course-context surveys included questions related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, study habits, task value, and peer learning. We also recorded measures of student engagement with course content including lecture attendance (proxied by a classroom polling system) and engagement with an online course discussion board. Our unique study design allows us to examine the relationships between motivation, self-efficacy, engagement, and academic performance by comparing the same individual in different contexts rather than relying on group statistics. Extrinsic motivation was strongly correlated between courses. Intrinsic motivation, by contrast, was only weakly to moderately correlated between courses. Task value was not correlated between courses despite similar course formats and alignment with major requirements. Most surprisingly, self-efficacy was not correlated between courses, despite strong correlation of grades and exam scores. This curriculum-level lens provides valuable insights to guide the design of broad department-level educational initiatives.