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Unpacking Motivational Culture: Diverging Emphasis on Communality and Agency Across STEM Domains
Mansi P Joshi1, Tessa M Benson-Greenwald1, Amanda B Diekman1
1Indiana University, Bloomington.
Motivation Science
|May 8, 2023
Summary
Engineering and physical sciences emphasize agency, while life sciences balance agency and communality. This impacts student motivation and engagement within STEM fields.
Area of Science:
- STEM Education
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Motivational cultures in STEM fields can influence student engagement.
- Understanding differences in communality and agency values across STEM disciplines is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate variations in the emphasis on communality and agency between life sciences and engineering/physical sciences.
- To explore how these differences manifest in academic environments and individual student motivations.
Main Methods:
- Archival course data analysis (N=11,222) to compare collaborative assignments.
- Content analysis of academic building bulletin boards (N=68) for communal purpose signals.
- Experimental manipulation of bulletin board cues (N=44).
- Surveys of engineering/physical science and life science majors (N=326, N=110) on individual motives.
Main Results:
- Engineering/physical sciences courses had fewer collaborative assignments than life sciences courses.
- Academic displays in engineering/physical sciences conveyed less communal purpose.
- Engineering/physical science majors reported a stronger agentic focus, which diminished over time, unlike life science majors' balanced focus.
Conclusions:
- STEM fields cultivate distinct motivational cultures, with engineering/physical sciences prioritizing agency and life sciences balancing agency with communality.
- Environmental structures and academic displays shape these motivational cultures.
- Understanding these differences is key to fostering engagement across diverse STEM pathways.
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