Zhu, G. and Burrow, A. (2021). Profiles of personal and ecological assets: Adolescents’ motivation and engagement in self-driven learning. Current Psychology 42:14025-14037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02412-0
Opportunities for self-driven, informal learning for teens are on the rise, but little is known about what motivates students to seek these activities, nor about what keeps them engaged when they find them. In this study, researchers evaluated student motivation and engagement via a large and diverse sample of teens (N=580, Mage=16.5) via GripTape, a self-driven learning program where ethnically and socioeconomically diverse students are provided modest grants to choose their own topics and explore their own direction. According to its website, “GripTape is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers young people ages 14–19 total control to design a 10-week learning experience, up to $500 to pursue this learning, and a Champion to support them.”
Via several Likert-style surveys based on Deci & Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, the researchers sought to identify each student’s personal (persistence, confidence, resilience) and ecological (adult support, safe environment) assets and classified them as either High Assets or Low Assets. Students were also surveyed on their self-reported rating of positive learning experiences, perception of support, assessment of meaningful knowledge/skills, and commitment to learning.
They found that high-asset students had significantly greater levels of intrinsic, extrinsic, and competence demonstration motivations than low-asset students, but no difference in engagement level in their work, the latter suggesting that all participants felt equally satisfied with and engaged in the work they were doing. They also found that external motivators (achievement, grades, competence demonstration) negatively correlated with youth’s motivation for and engagement in self-driven learning, meaning that students who were motivated by external factors were less engaged and less committed to their learning. The researchers conclude that their study provides empirical evidence that teens maintain high intrinsic motivation when provided with opportunities to direct their own learning in topics they are interested in. The paper cites ample research that indicates that higher engagement and motivation predict positive learning outcomes, from which the reader can infer that more confident students with more supportive resources achieve better learning outcomes in self-driven learning.
This is an excellent, well-structured and clear study that includes many relevant and helpful citations throughout. It highlights the importance of self-direction and relevance to teen students’ engagement in learning, and also shows much evidence that supports the critical importance of adult support and safe environment to teen engagement and learning. It demonstrates the contributions of relevancy, purpose, and ownership to learners’ positive learning experiences and engagement (defined herein as “commitment”) to learning topics. It also shows that extrinsic motivation negatively correlates to engagement. The only limitation of this study that could be subjected to further research is that it was entirely survey-based, and the data was not compared to any objective measures of student performance.
Susan Gedutis Lindsay 