Predicting seventh grade students’ engagement in science by their achievement goals

Sample

The data for the present study were obtained from 153 seventh grade students (n = 85 girls, n = 68 boys) in the second semester of academic year attending urban public schools in Turkey. The students ranged in age from 12 to 15 years with a mean age of 13.22 (SD= .54).Majority of them were from middle socioeconomic class families. The mean of the students’ science report card grade was 3.78 out 5 with a standard deviation of 1.05.

Research design
In the present study, a correlational research design was conducted using The Achievement Goal Questionnaire and Engagement Questionnaire. Accordingly, the data were obtained via administering these self-report instruments to the sample of seventh grade students to identify relationships between achievement goals and engagement.

Instruments

The Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ)
The AGQ is a 15-item, five-point Likert scale developed by Elliot and McGregor (2001) to assess students’ achievement goals. It consists of four sub-scales namely: mastery approach goals (e.g. “I want to learn as much as possible from science classes”, n =3 items, α = .87), mastery avoidance goals (e.g. “I worry that I may not learn all that I possibly could in science classes”, n =3 items, α = .73), performance approach goals (e.g. “It is important for me to do well compared to others in science classes”, n =3 items, α = .68) and performance avoidance goals (e.g. “My fear of performing poorly in science classes is often what motivates me”, n =6 items, α = .82). In the current study, as a validity evidence for 4-factor structure of the AGQ, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. Results provided an acceptable model fit (CFI = .93, RMSEA = .11, SRMR = .08). In terms of reliability, cronbach’s alpha coefficients for each sub-scale were sufficiently high to conduct further analyses.

Engagement Questionnaire (EQ)
The EQ was used to assess student engagement in science classes (Reeve &Tseng, 2011). It is a seven-point-likert type self-report instrument with 22 items in four sub-scales namely, behavioral engagement (e.g. “I listen carefully in science classes”, n =5 items, α = .92), emotional engagement (e.g. “When I am in science class, I feel curious about what we are learning”, n =4 items, α = .84), cognitive engagement (e.g. “When I study for science, I try to connect what I am learning with my own experiences”, n =8 items, α = .86) and agentic engagement (e.g. “I offer suggestions about how to make the science class better”, n =5 items, α = .82). In the current study, confirmatory factor analysis results conducted to validate 4-factor structure of the instrument indicated a good model fit (CFI = .98, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .05). In addition, cronbach’s alpha coefficients for each sub-scale suggested high internal consistency.

Data analysis

As part of descriptive statistics mean and standard deviations for achievement goals and engagement variables were reported. As an inferential procedure multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the seventh grade students’ engagement in science in relation to their achievement goals.