The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity evidence for the use of the 19-item and 20-item short forms of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (College Student version) with undergraduate students. These shorter forms of the MUSIC Inventory could be beneficial to teachers and researchers. Our analysis included inventory…

A course syllabus can affect students' perceptions of the motivational climate within a course. Yet, few researchers have conducted experimental studies of students' perceptions of syllabi in courses in which they were currently enrolled. The purpose of the present studies was to assess the extent to which syllabi language and organization…

Background: The motivational climate within a course has been shown to be an important predictor of students' engagement and course ratings. Because little is known about how students' perceptions of the motivational climate in a computer science (CS) course vary by sex, race/ethnicity, and academic major, we investigated these questions: (1) To…

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are important at most colleges and universities. One purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which motivational climate was associated with SETs. Another purpose was to determine whether course ease was associated with SETs. Participants included 2,949 undergraduate students from 30 courses at a…

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which college students' perceptions of a course predicted their engagement and, subsequently, their learning in the course. This study is needed because relatively few studies have examined the relationships between several different class perceptions, engagement, and learning (as opposed to…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the extent to which students' course perceptions of the components of the MUSIC Model of Motivation (Jones, 2009, 2018) were related to their engagement in college courses and their instructor and course ratings. Participants included 285 college students who completed questionnaires once or twice…

One purpose of this study was to determine whether patterns existed in pre-high school students' motivation-related perceptions of their science classes. Another purpose was to examine the extent to which these patterns were related to their science identification, gender, grade level, class effort, and intentions to persist in science. We…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether students' perceptions in a first-year university engineering course affected their engineering identification, motivational beliefs, and engineering major and career goals. Based on current motivation models and theories, we hypothesized that students' perceptions of the components of the MUSIC…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which a 12-week after-school science and engineering program affected middle school students' motivation to engage in science and engineering activities. We used current motivation research and theory as a conceptual framework to assess 14 students' motivation through questionnaires,…

We investigated students' perceptions related to psychological constructs in their science classes and the influence of these perceptions on their science identification and science career goals. Participants included 575 middle school students from two countries (334 students in the U.S. and 241 students in Iceland). Students completed a…

We examined how students' motivation differed when they participated in three different types of mind mapping activities: one activity that was completed individually outside of class time, one that was completed individually in class with the instructor available for help, and one that was completed in class with other students and the instructor…

We identified and examined how the instructional elements of problem-based learning capstone engineering courses affected students' motivation to engage in the courses. We employed a two-phase, sequential, explanatory, mixed methods research design. For the quantitative phase, 47 undergraduate students at a large public university completed a…

Studio STEM adopts a design studio model to provide middle school youth with the opportunity to work with peers and college student facilitators after school in a relaxed, non-threatening, collaborative environment. Two informal learning educators guided overall instruction and pacing, but youth directed their own step-by-step activities by…

Introduction: The MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation consists of psychological components (i.e., empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring) that have been derived from research and theory as ones that are critical to student engagement in academic settings. The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine whether men and women rate…