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Effects of an inquiry-focused school improvement program on the development of pupils’ attitudes towards curiosity, their implicit ability and effort beliefs, and goal orientations

DOI:10.1007/s11031-020-09851-5
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Tim Post
Tim Post
Tim Post
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Juliette Walma van der Molen at University of Twente
Juliette Walma van der Molen
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The present study describes the effects of a 2-year inquiry-focused school improvement intervention on pupils’ attitudes towards epistemic curiosity, their implicit beliefs about the malleability of their ability, their effort beliefs, and their goal orientation motivations were investigated. Six Dutch primary school teams participated in the study. Quantitative data were collected from the 4th, 5th and 6th grade pupils and examined based on a longitudinal pretest–posttest control group design. A Structural Equation Modeling approach was first used to examine the relationships among pupils’ attitude, belief, and motivation scores. In line with attitude and motivation theory, pupils’ attitudes towards epistemic curiosity and their implicit ability beliefs positively related to their effort beliefs and goal orientation motivations. In addition, the intervention affected positive changes in pupils’ attitude, belief and motivation scores over time. Findings may inform the further development of school development projects aimed at stimulating pupils’ inquiry in primary education, namely by fostering pupils’ attitudes towards epistemic curiosity and their implicit ability beliefs.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
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Motivation and Emotion (2021) 45:13–38
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-020-09851-5
ORIGINAL PAPER
Effects ofaninquiry‑focused school improvement program
onthedevelopment ofpupils’ attitudes towardscuriosity, their
implicit ability andeffort beliefs, andgoal orientations
TimPost1 · JulietteH.WalmavanderMolen1
Published online: 18 August 2020
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
The present study describes the effects of a 2-year inquiry-focused school improvement intervention on pupils’ attitudes
towards epistemic curiosity, their implicit beliefs about the malleability of their ability, their effort beliefs, and their goal
orientation motivations were investigated. Six Dutch primary school teams participated in the study. Quantitative data were
collected from the 4th, 5th and 6th grade pupils and examined based on a longitudinal pretest–posttest control group design.
A Structural Equation Modeling approach was first used to examine the relationships among pupils’ attitude, belief, and
motivation scores. In line with attitude and motivation theory, pupils’ attitudes towards epistemic curiosity and their implicit
ability beliefs positively related to their effort beliefs and goal orientation motivations. In addition, the intervention affected
positive changes in pupils’ attitude, belief and motivation scores over time. Findings may inform the further development of
school development projects aimed at stimulating pupils’ inquiry in primary education, namely by fostering pupils’ attitudes
towards epistemic curiosity and their implicit ability beliefs.
Keywords Curiosity· Implicit beliefs about intelligence· Effort beliefs· Achievement goal orientation motivation· Inquiry
learning
Introduction
Policy documents on twenty-first century learning increas-
ingly promote primary school curricula aimed at engaging
pupils in inquiry (Lucas etal. 2013; OECD 2015). Inquiry
has been associated with a wide range of complex learning
behavior, such as voicing inquisitive ideas and questions,
creatively linking subject matter from different knowledge
domains, and seeking alternative answers or solutions to
questions or problems (e.g., Engel 2015; Heywood etal.
2012; Osborne 2014). When pupils learn by inquiry, it is
believed that they develop a more meaningful and integrated
understanding of school subject matter than by forms of rote
learning (Pellegrino and Hilton 2012).
Despite the educational value of inquiry-based learn-
ing, scientific descriptions of school-wide interventions
aimed at fostering pupils’ inquiry thinking are still scarce
and their effects are often not studied on the level of
the pupil (Syer etal. 2012). Therefore, a 2-year school
improvement program was developed in which primary
school teams were trained to adopt inquiry-focused peda-
gogy. To stimulate pupils’ inquiry, teachers learned how to
stimulate pupils’ (a) attitudes towards epistemic curiosity
(i.e., perceived value of inquisitive thinking), (b) implicit
ability beliefs (i.e., perceived malleability of their abil-
ity), (c) positive effort beliefs (i.e., perceived causality
of their effort on achievement), and (d) achievement goal
orientations (i.e., perceived goals for achieving in school),
and to adapt their daily practices accordingly. Previous
research suggests that these variables are particularly
salient precursors to pupils’ inquiry and can be fostered
through school interventions (an overview of this research
will be provided later on in this Introduction). Results
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (https ://doi.org/10.1007/s1103 1-020-09851 -5) contains
supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Tim Post
timpost@me.com
1 Centre ofScience Education andTalent Development,
Institute forTeacher Education, Science Communication
& School Practices, University ofTwente, PO Box217,
7500AEEnschede, TheNetherlands
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... There is also some research concerning the ability to change achievement goal orientations through intervention, suggesting that in some cases, teachers or other authority figures can promote mastery goals over performance goals (see Elliot & Hulleman, 2017 for a review). Specifically, providing moderately challenging tasks that are inquiry-based, intrinsically interesting to students, focusing on improvement, and encouraging positive self-talk can promote mastery goals in education settings (Linnenbrink, 2005;Marjanović, Comoutos, & Papaioannou, 2019;Post & van der Molen, 2020). Furthermore, some research in sports and business contexts has also demonstrated that changes to goal orientations are possible through intervention (Schmidt & Ford, 2003;Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2007;Stevens & Gist, 1997). ...
... In the context of what is already known about the benefits of student engagement for the higher education experience, there are further implications when adding in the overall findings on achievement goal orientation. Instructors might adapt the interventions for promoting mastery goals that have been successful in K-12 settings (Elliot & Hulleman, 2017;Linnenbrink, 2005;Marjanović et al., 2019;O'Keefe, Ben-Eliyahu, & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2013;Post & van der Molen, 2020), making sure to encourage positive self-talk and include tasks for students that are moderately challenging, inquiry-based, and allow students to choose topics for open-ended assignments that are of personal interest to stimulate their intrinsic motivation. Knowing that encouragement of mastery goals goes hand-in-hand with student engagement, administrators might consider policies that downplay grades in favor of ways that students can demonstrate interest and mastery of content. ...
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