Examining the Connection Between Teacher Practice, Teacher Beliefs About Student Engagement, and the Classroom Environment and the Activation of Achievement Emotions in Middle School Science Students - An Exploratory Case Study

Abstract

Examining the Connection Between Teacher Practice, Teacher Beliefs About Student Engagement, and the Classroom Environment and the Activation of Achievement Emotions in Middle School Science Students - An Exploratory Case Study Sarah K. Terwilliger Abstract Positive student engagement is linked to increased graduation rates, higher-order thinking, and improved academic achievement in the immediate and longer term. Researchers have dedicated considerable time and resources to understanding the factors that affect student engagement in the classroom. Understanding the specific teacher practices, teacher beliefs about student engagement, and classroom environments that increase student engagement offers educational leaders, professors in teacher preparation programs, and policymakers the ability to ensure that they are providing guidance, support, instruction, and evaluation that enhances practices and behaviors that increase student engagement. The study of achievement emotions is one area of concentration within the body of research regarding student engagement. Previous studies have established the relationship between the activation of positive achievement emotions and increased student engagement and student achievement. This study seeks to add to the body of research on achievement emotions by using an exploratory multi-case study methodology to develop an understanding of how teacher practices, teacher beliefs about student engagement, and the classroom environment influence the activation of achievement emotions within the learning environment -- specifically enjoyment, hope, anger, pride, boredom, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness. I aimed to provide preliminary data from this case study that can be used in future studies to test the relationship between specific teaching practices, teacher beliefs and perceptions of student engagement, classroom environments, and the activation of achievement emotions. The study was conducted at a middle school and included three cases, all of which were teachers of seventh grade life science. One teacher was a provisionally licensed career switcher, one was a mid-career teacher who had taught special education before moving to science three years earlier, and the third was an experienced teacher who has taught the same subject in the same school for his entire career. Data collected included three interviews for each case, one classroom observation, and a student survey using an adapted version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire. The study found that teachers who believe the responsibility for student engagement rests primarily with the teacher and who prioritized engagement as a primary factor in their lesson design and delivery may more strongly activate positive achievement emotions and deactivate negative achievement emotions. The study also found that the same connection may exist between the activation of achievement emotions and classrooms that are semi-structured, prioritize individual student needs, create a respectful environment, and provide a balance between independence and support for student progress. The findings from this study provide a basis for future research, using other methodologies, to explore and test more specific aspects of the teacher practices, beliefs about student engagement, and classroom environments and their connection to the activation of student achievement emotions. Such research would help inform teacher training, teacher evaluation and professional learning, and teacher practice through the lens of activating positive achievement emotions and deactivating negative ones to thereby increase student engagement and achievement.