Background: Student persistence in undergraduate engineering majors often depends on how they perform in foundational engineering courses. Although mastery of prerequisite knowledge affects how students perform in these courses, research suggests that achievement goal orientations and task-value and self-efficacy beliefs play prominent roles in…

Background: Belonging is a fundamental human motivation associated with a wide range of positive psychological, educational, social, and job outcomes. Frequent and predominantly conflict-free interactions within a stable, relational framework of caring are required to facilitate belonging. Purpose: The goal of this study was to understand if and…

Background: One facet of motivation relevant to students' learning is their perceptions of the future, including future career goals and how those perceptions influence their present actions; this is collectively referred to as their future time perspective (FTP). Purpose/Hypothesis: This study describes the different FTPs of engineering students.…

Background: Students are more likely to persist when they both perceive themselves as capable of success (expectancy) and perceive tasks to be interesting, important, and useful (values) or less costly in terms of effort, lost opportunities, and psychological stress (perceived costs). Prior research has not examined whether these motivational…

Background: In Spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic sent universities into emergency remote education. The pandemic has been disruptive but offers the opportunity to learn about ways to support students in other situations where abrupt changes to teaching and learning are necessary. Purpose/Hypothesis: We described the responses of engineering and…

Background: While educators strive for optimal student motivation to enhance the quality of learning for all, different students attending the same course can have different needs. Person-centered approaches on basic needs profiles, categorizing individuals into groups with similar motivational profiles, have the potential to inform the…

Background: Recent advances in technology and computer simulation have expanded the use of virtual manipulatives in engineering education. However, especially in disciplines in which tactile concepts (e.g., force) are included, it has been claimed that learning could be compromised by substituting physical materials with computer simulations.…