2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this theory paper, we conducted a literature review to see how motivational theory has been used within STEM education and how it has been related to students’ cognition. Using motivational theories helps researchers conceptualize a complex psychological construct and categorize student’s motivational orientations. Determining the usefulness of each orientation is often established through measures of cognition, with correlations can be made between the two. While these types of studies are common in fields such as education and psychology, the use of them in undergraduate STEM education is lagging. Understanding the current state of motivational theory research within STEM education would help researchers know the major conclusions made and what future contributions should focus on. To this end, we performed a literature to investigate what research has been performed using motivational theory and tying concepts from these theories to student cognition. This review was narrative in nature and seeks to synthesize findings from articles to create important and useful points of discussion. For the purposes of this review, three motivational theories were highlighted: self-determination theory, expectancy-value theory, and achievement goal theory. These three theories were the focus of this review as they are the more widely used and well-established motivational theories. From our review, we found that most of the research using self-determination theory focused on studies around autonomy and how to improve feelings of autonomous motivation in students to increase cognition. Researchers using expectancy-value theory were more balanced in their investigations, focusing on how both student expectations and values play a part in student cognition. For researchers using achievement goal theory, the focus was on the benefits of performance-based orientations and the use of multiple goal perspectives. Further discussion should be placed on using a specific measure of student cognition, and some of the limitations that exist with common appraisals of the construct. Of the research gaps that currently exist, one that might be worth investigating could be the use of a classroom motivational framework and its effects on STEM students’ motivational profiles and academic achievement.