ENHANCING STUDENT MATHEMATICS SUCCESS THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING: AN EXAMINATION OF STUDENT MOTIVATION USING THE SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY

Author

Shanna E. Banda

Graduation Semester and Year

2020

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

(Leaf) Li Zhang

Abstract

The increase in collegiate enrollment, yet bleak graduation rates, poses a significant problem for students and educators alike. Contributing to the high attrition rates, a lack of academic motivation often leads to poor performance in gateway mathematics courses. Factors influencing academic motivation include self-efficacy, anxiety, perceptions about the importance and utility value of math, and soft skills. To heighten student motivation and improve academic success, educators have implemented active-learning strategies, such as service-learning, which have shown positive effects on academic performance. The self-determination theory guided this study as a theoretical framework for student motivation. During the spring 2019 semester, 615 undergraduates completed an online survey instrument. Of these respondents, 140 students were enrolled in a service-learning section of Elementary Statistical Analysis, and 475 were enrolled in non-service-learning sections. Results indicate that student’s sociodemographic characteristics, academic backgrounds, participation in service-learning, and motivational factors have significant relationships with the probability of student success in their gateway math course. Implementing service-learning curricular components that attend to the basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness can facilitate student success in mathematics courses and the attainment of undergraduate degrees.

Keywords

Service learning, Mathematics, Post-secondary, Higher education, Self determination, Motivation, Statistics, Active learning, Self efficacy, Math anxiety, Utility value, Soft skills

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Banda, Shanna E., "ENHANCING STUDENT MATHEMATICS SUCCESS THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING: AN EXAMINATION OF STUDENT MOTIVATION USING THE SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY" (2020). Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations. 173.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/edleadershippolicy_dissertations/173