Benjamin C. Heddy

The Challenges of Defining and Measuring Student Engagement in Science

Engagement is one of the hottest research topics in the field of educational psychology. Research shows that multifarious benefits occur when students are engaged in their own learning, including increased motivation and achievement. However, there is little agreement on a concrete definition and effective measurement of engagement. This special issue serves to discuss and work toward addressing conceptual and instrumentation issues related to engagement, with particular interest in engagement in the domain of science learning. We start by describing the dimensional perspective of engagement (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, agentic) and suggest a complementary approach that places engagement instrumentation on a continuum. Specifically, we recommend that instrumentation be considered on a “grain-size” continuum that ranges from a person-centered to a context-centered orientation to clarify measurement issues. We then provide a synopsis of the articles included in this special issue and conclude with suggestions for future research.

Making learning meaningful: facilitating interest development and transfer in at-risk college students

Abstract The Teaching for Transformative Experience in Science (TTES) model has shown to be a useful tool to generate learning and engagement in science. We investigated the effectiveness of TTES for facilitating transformative experience (TE), learning, the development of topic interest and transfer of course concepts to other courses employing a quasi-experimental design. Our goal was to determine the effectiveness of TTES compared to an alternative teaching method in a course designed for academically at-risk undergraduate students. Specifically, we explored the impact of TTES for teaching about motivation in a college success course. The results showed that TTES generated TE outside of the biological sciences, increased learning, developed student interest and facilitated self-reported transfer to other courses. The findings have important implications for facilitating learning and motivation in academically at-risk college students, which may subsequently impact college student retention and academic success.

Modifying Knowledge, Emotions, and Attitudes Regarding Genetically Modified Foods

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore whether conceptual change predicted emotional and attitudinal change while learning about genetically modified foods (GMFs). Participants were 322 college students; half read a refutation text designed to shift conceptual knowledge, emotions, and attitudes, while the other half served as a control group. The results suggest that the refutation text effectively facilitated change in conceptual knowledge, emotions, and attitudes. The hypothesized relationship among the variables was explored using structural equation modeling. The analysis showed that when participants experienced knowledge change toward more scientifically accepted conceptions of GMFs, their emotions became more positive and less negative, which predicted a subsequent shift toward more-positive attitudes. The results suggest that change in emotions mediates the relationship between conceptual and attitudinal change. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed including the impact that these findings may have on science education.

Effects of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals

Abstract This investigation employed a longitudinal design to examine the influence of a one-shot growth mindset intervention on ninth-graders’ implicit beliefs about intelligence and related achievement goals in four different samples. The intervention conformed to characteristics of ‘wise interventions’. Participants’ incremental beliefs about intelligence and achievement goals were measured prior to the intervention and at several subsequent points in time following the intervention. Our results provide modest evidence that the one-shot intervention can promote incremental views of intelligence and reduce the prevalence of performance goals when used at scale.

Developing and Validating a Conceptual Change Cognitive Engagement Instrument

Conceptual change (CC) occurs when learners move from a misconception to a scientifically accepted conception (Heddy, Danielson, Sinatra, & Graham, 2017). Many researchers agree that deep cognitive engagement is integral to facilitating conceptual change (Sinatra & Pintrich, 2005). Although conceptual change has been explored in great depth, a valid and reliable instrument to assess the type of engagement that occurs during the change process is lacking in the field. In the present study, we designed an instrument meant to assess cognitive engagement during conceptual change. Our measure is modeled after Dole & Sinatra’s (1998) model theorizing that learners consider message and personal factors when learning new concepts. We used exploratory factor analysis to assess the structure of the Conceptual Change Cognitive Engagement Scale (CCCES) with participants recruited from the M-Turk survey recruitment tool. The CCCES will be beneficial for theoretical understanding related to conceptual change and engagement.