Abstract
Applying intrinsic life goals and learning goals increases children’s autonomous motivation to learn and enjoyment of learning. A paucity of field-based intervention studies have focused on helping students set intrinsic life goals and learning goals. In particular, there is a need for qualitative studies that examine intrinsic learning goal content over the course of an intervention. This qualitative study examined the homework goals that 15 upper elementary school students wrote over the course of 5 weeks within the context of a 7-week parent autonomy support and student life goals intervention. Three themes were identified: (1) overtly healthy attitudes toward the learning process (e.g., focusing on enjoyment, interest, persistence, creativity, and taking on challenges); (2) expressing motivation for helping others, which is a key intrinsic life goal; and (3) deeper purposes for academic subjects (i.e., spelling, reading, math, and science), which students usually experience as more meaningful and satisfying than extrinsic goals. Whereas most previous studies assess goal orientation by having students fill out forced-choice questionnaires, future intrinsic life goals intervention studies may benefit from considering these themes and the way children describe their own intrinsic goals, because they could help with training students to set goals that support autonomous motivation.
When students set intrinsic life goals, they are promoting their autonomous self-regulation and deeper engagement with learning opportunities (Ryan & Deci, 2008, 2017; Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Deci, 2006). Self-determination theory posits that people have psychological needs for relatedness (feeling connected to others), autonomy (feeling volitional), and competence (feeling like one is becoming more skillful or effective; Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2008). To the extent that students perceive these psychological needs as being met by parents, teachers, or engaging in academic tasks, they are more likely to be autonomously self-regulated and experience benefits such as increased vitality and emotional health (Ryan & Deci, 2008). Autonomous self-regulation includes intrinsic motivation to learn (enjoying learning) and identified self-regulation, wherein a student does not necessarily enjoy learning, but he or she sees it as being valuable or important (Ryan & Deci, 2017). On the other hand, when psychological needs are not met, students often develop self-controlling regulation (Compton & Hoffman, 2013), which includes introjection (internal pressure) and extrinsic regulation (pursuing extrinsic rewards and avoiding punishments; Ryan & Deci, 2017). Introjection and extrinsic regulation are negatively associated with psychological well-being and often lead to superficial engagement with learning opportunities (Brophy, 2013). Thus, setting intrinsic life goals makes it possible for one to be more autonomously self-regulated, whereas setting extrinsic life goals promotes controlled motivation.
Understanding how to positively activate one’s deepest motives is crucial for human flourishing, success, and happiness (Froiland, Mayor, & Herlevi, 2015; Reiss, 2002; Reiss & Havercamp, 2005; Weems et al., 2015). Based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2000), extrinsic life goals involve the pursuit of external rewards (e.g., money, grades, points) or the approval of others, whereas intrinsic goals entail seeking personal growth and benevolence (Froiland, 2011; Froiland & Worrell, 2016; Guillen-Royo & Kasser, 2015; Kasser & Ryan, 2001). Intrinsic life goals (i.e., seeking to learn and grow, seeking to improve one’s community, and seeking good relationships) promote well-being and genuine happiness, whereas extrinsic life goals (i.e., aiming for popularity, money, and looking good) put one at risk for negative emotions, physical symptoms, and reduced satisfaction in life (Lekes, Gingras, Philippe, Koestner, & Fang, 2010; Kasser & Ryan, 2001). Intrinsic goals empower students to immerse themselves in academic tasks (Froiland & Davison, 2016; Froiland, Oros, Smith, & Hirchert, 2012; Froiland & Worrell, 2017), whereas extrinsic goals elevate their concerns about whether they will outperform peers (Vansteenkiste, Soenens, Verstuyf, & Lens, 2009) or receive the extrinsic rewards they are pursuing. Vansteenkiste, Simmons, Lens, Sheldon, and Deci (2004) found that high school and college students are apt to master academic material when they have an intrinsic goal such as, “Learning this will help me teach my future children to be healthy.” Intrinsic learning goals are strongly associated with intrinsic motivation to learn and promote academic achievement and happiness among students from diverse backgrounds (Froiland & Worrell, 2016; Weems et al., 2015).
Students Setting Intrinsic Learning and Life Goals
Dishon-Berkovits (2014) found that assigned learning goals led to college students having stronger academic performance than performance approach goals (e.g., aiming for a high grade). Assigned learning goals entailed students writing what they hoped to learn or understand. Latham and Brown (2006) asked MBA students to set learning goals that would empower them to be satisfied with their program at end of year, which promoted greater program satisfaction and stronger achievement than “Do your best goals,” proximal performance approach goals (e.g., aiming for certain midterm grades), or long-term performance approach goals (e.g., aiming for specific final grades). Dishon-Berkovits (2014) argues for the importance of combining goal setting with achievement goals research, which is vital because relatively few studies among youth have focused on teaching them to set learning goals. Helping students develop a strong appreciation and enjoyment for various school subjects (e.g., math, science, reading, writing, art, social studies, and history) is crucial if we want students to experience learning as transformative and creatively apply the knowledge and skills in these academic subjects in everyday life, throughout their life (Brophy, 2008; Brophy, Alleman, & Halvorsen, 2012; Brophy, 2013; Froiland, 2010).
Homework as a Context for Learning Intrinsic Goals
By the time they reach upper elementary school, most children find homework boring (Coutts, 2004). Unfortunately for upper elementary school students, most learning goals interventions have been tested with students in seventh grade (e.g., Grolnick, Farkas, Sohmer, Michaels, & Valsiner, 2007) or beyond (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014; Latham & Brown, 2006). There are many things that parents can do to support students’ learning (e.g., Pomerantz, Ng, Cheung, & Qu, 2014; Powell, Son, File, & Froiland, 2012), but parental help with homework often backfires by leading to worse outcomes (Cooper, Lindsay, & Nye, 2000; Froiland, Peterson, & Davison, 2013). This is because parents often speak to children in a controlling way about homework and school. Controlling communication includes ignoring children’s feelings, the unnecessary use of imperatives (e.g., “You have to start studying”), time pressure (e.g., “Start studying now”), doing the work for the child, and failing to provide a rationale for requests (e.g., “Because I said so”; Brophy, 2013). However, parental help with homework that is autonomy-supportive leads to positive outcomes for children (Cooper et al., 2000; Vasquez, Patall, Fong, Corrigan, & Pine, 2015). Although not apparent from the term autonomy support, autonomy-supportive communication supports autonomous motivation by meeting needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Reeve, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000). For instance, acknowledging feelings, displaying signs of patience, and seeking to understand the child’s perspective are all aspects of autonomy-supportive communication that support a sense of relatedness. Many parents and elementary school students view homework as dreadful and tedious (Corno, 1996; Froiland, 2013), but parents who teach their elementary school children to set learning goals for homework support their autonomous motivation by helping them focus on intrinsic reasons for learning (Froiland, 2011). Because homework is positively related to children’s academic achievement (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006; Froiland, 2013) and is a source of stress for parents and children, it is important to examine children’s learning goals for homework as they can increase students’ positive emotions, autonomous motivation, and success in school (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014; Froiland, 2011; Froiland & Worrell, 2017).
An intrinsic goals intervention study found that elementary school children (fourth and fifth graders) in the treatment group, who learned to set intrinsic goals for homework, developed more self-rated positive emotions toward homework, as well as reduced signs of anxiety and depression related to school (d = 0.67; Froiland, 2011). Likewise, relative to parents in the control group, parents in the treatment group saw a significant improvement in children’s intrinsic motivation to learn (d = 1.2). Analysis of covariance controlled for the effects of gender and pretreatment scores on progress from pre- to posttreatment. The original quantitative treatment study involved 15 sets of parent–child participants in the treatment group and consisted of seven 30-minute sessions with parents learning autonomy-supportive parenting during didactic instruction, modeling, role-playing, and constructive feedback (Froiland, 2011). Key autonomy-supportive elements included the following: teaching parents to acknowledge their children’s feelings about homework and school; sharing parables and metaphors to help children reframe the way they view learning opportunities; highlighting the meaningful or interesting features of homework assignments or academic subjects; helping children see learning as a way of growing and preparing to help others; providing developmentally appropriate choices; and mindfully communicating with children such that controlling language was replaced with more autonomy-supportive language (Froiland, 2015; Vasquez et al., 2015). Su and Reeve (2011) reviewed this intervention favorably in their meta-analysis of autonomy-supportive training interventions for teachers, coaches, and parents.
The Current Study and Research Question
The present study qualitatively analyzes the weekly intrinsic learning goals treatment integrity data from Froiland’s (2011) quantitative study, which included intrinsic learning goal sheets filled out by students each week over the course of an intervention study that taught parents how to be autonomy supportive and encourage learning goals among their children. Whereas the previous study indicated that children in the treatment group improved statistically significantly more than the control group over the course of a learning goals intervention, the current study will provide insight about the actual intrinsic learning goals and life goals that children write, which could enhance training during future intervention studies. This is the first qualitative study that examines intrinsic learning goals over the course of a field-based intervention study and could provide insight into the daily application of goals that help children increase their intrinsic motivation to learn and happiness. The central research question was, “What themes will emerge from the learning and life goals that students wrote?” Whereas a plethora of valuable quantitative studies have demonstrated that learning and life goals (defined by forced-choice responses on questionnaires) are associated with children’s academic success and well-being (e.g., Kasser & Ryan, 2001), the current study will help researchers and psychologists gain more insight into the specific intrinsic learning goals that children apply to various domains of learning. Brophy (2008) has cogently argued numerous times for the importance of educators and psychologists understanding how to convey the specific value and meaningfulness of various academic subjects to children. In the current study, the students let us know the value and meaning they see in various homework tasks addressing diverse school subjects.
Method
Participants and Data Source
The sample involved 15 fourth- and fifth-grade children (73% boys) drawn from three elementary schools attended mostly by children of middle-class backgrounds. Fourth- and fifth-grade students in the United States are usually between ages 9 and 11 years. Thirteen of the children lived with two parents, whereas two were from single-parent families. One of the children was African American, one was Latino, and the remaining children were European American. This sample is ethnically representative of the children in the schools involved in the study, which predominantly had students from European American backgrounds. The schools were located in a Midwestern metropolitan area with an above average percentage of residents holding a college degree (Froiland, 2011).
It was within the context of autonomy-supportive parent training that the intrinsic learning and life goals were introduced. In fact, parents were encouraged to utilize autonomy-supportive techniques when teaching children how to set learning goals, when collecting learning goal sheets, and when encouraging students to set their learning goals on a weekly basis. Every parent demonstrated an understanding of the learning goals during the second session in which the researcher asked the parents to create three learning goals based on a chimerical assignment sheet. In fact, most of the parents wrote three pure learning goals on the first try. Likewise, all of the parents successfully identified the performance approach goal and the two pure learning goals, when the consultant (playing the child) pretended to hand in a learning goals sheet to the parents. The definition of intrinsic learning goals that parents and children were taught was, “An intrinsic learning goal means you try to understand something more, become better at doing something so that you can help others someday, or discover something interesting.”
Although mothers usually turned in the learning goals sheets, 10 of the 15 families also had a father participate in the learning goals training sessions. Four families had only a mother participate and one family had only the father participate. Children joined the parents and researcher at the dinner table or living room couch in each family’s home.
Procedure
In order to see how children develop learning goals applied to various academic subjects (when taught by their parents how to set intrinsic learning goals), learning goal sheets for daily homework assignments that 15 children turned in on a weekly basis during 5 weeks of a larger 7-week parenting intervention were qualitatively analyzed. A total of 131 goal sheets were collected that included students’ learning goals for various subjects and homework assignments, as well as their notes about their progress toward reaching the learning goals after completing their homework assignments. A doctoral graduate assistant blind to the hypotheses in the study transcribed all learning goals sheets into one large word-processing document. The lead researcher who delivered the intervention collected the learning goals sheets at the beginning of each new session. This study was approved by the institutional review board of the researcher’s institution.
The qualitative researcher and a research assistant independently examined transcripts of the learning goals sheets to inductively identify themes. Both researchers first immersed themselves in the data, becoming highly familiar with the transcripts through multiple reads, then both researchers separately developed a tentative list of themes with supporting quotes. Subsequently, they compared themes and supporting quotes, then reached an agreement about any differences, and refined the themes through further analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Froiland, 2015). In order to be considered a theme, it had to be observed among a significant number of participants (at least one-third) and be mentioned on at least two different weeks by multiple participants. Other high-quality qualitative studies have identified themes that involve as few as 15% of participants. For example, Minor, Onwuegbuzie, Witcher, and James (2002) identified seven themes with prevalence rates ranging from 15.7% to 55.2%. There is no hard-and-fast rule about what percentage of cases need to display a theme and some theoretically important themes may show up in relatively few cases (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Prevalence rates enable readers to roughly compare the effects of each theme on the overall sample of participants (Minor et al., 2002; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). The fact that this was a 5-week goal intervention study enabled detecting whether the theme reappeared in subsequent weeks. Furthermore, the themes that emerged from the current study are in accordance with previous quantitative and qualitative studies on intrinsic goals, autonomous motivation, and engagement with learning (e.g., DeRobertis, 2017; Froiland, 2011; Kasser & Ryan, 2001; Vansteenkiste et al., 2006).
Results
Theme 1: Overtly Healthy Attitudes Toward the Learning Process
The first theme that emerged was overtly healthy attitude toward the learning process, which entails many goals that explicitly included persistence, embracing challenges, enjoyment of learning, and other positive psychological constructs, such as creativity. This theme was present among 40% of participants (6 out of 15) and many of them (4 out 6; 66%) stated a goal in accordance with the theme on at least two different weeks. Although Themes 2 and 3 were more prevalent, this theme was striking because overtly healthy attitudes toward the learning process are thought to be benefits of setting intrinsic learning goals, rather than the goals themselves. Children were taught that “An intrinsic learning goal means you try to understand something more, become better at doing something so that you can help others someday, or discover something interesting.” These types of goals are consistently positively associated with intrinsic motivation, enjoyment of learning, persistence, deep engagement with learning, self-actualization, and happiness (e.g., Froiland & Worrell, 2016; Kasser & Ryan, 2001; Reiss & Havercamp, 2005). However, the quotes below suggest that a number of students wanted to directly include these outcomes in their goals. Participant 11 used a learning goal to help himself overcome procrastination. For his Valentine’s Day project, his goal was “Figure out how to be creative, and not wait until the last minute.” He later reported, “I was able to be creative and won the ‘most original’ prize.” Participant 8 had a learning goal for playing the piano that highlighted his positive attitude, “I’ll be more musical. I might be in a band and I might enjoy it.” For his progress report, he wrote, “At the end of the week, a song that was hard to learn is so much easier.”
Participant 9 wrote that his goal was, “To love learning more” and stated at the end of his assignment, “I can enjoy math now.” Interestingly, Participant 7 stated that he wanted to “Learn the joy of math” multiple times and reported being interested in his math problems. This is important because students who develop an enjoyment for math are more likely to take more rigorous math courses in high school and develop greater math achievement than students who dislike math (Froiland, Davison, & Worrell, 2016). Participant 9 wrote various other learning goals, such as “Learn how to speak Spanish fluently, because I’m going to visit a Spanish speaking country.” Before engaging in recorder practice, he wrote, “I hope to be able to read music better,” followed by, “I just thought being able to play music is interesting because of the cool noises.” This suggests that Participant 9 was developing his love for learning by seeing the meaningful and interesting applications of learning. Participant 12 set a goal: “To read better and enjoy what I read.” A focus on becoming a stronger reader and enjoying reading predicts more reading for pleasure and developing strong reading achievement over the course of elementary and middle school (Froiland & Oros, 2014). For each of these students, the positive attitude toward learning was especially salient.
When given a math calculations assignment, Participant 11 said his goal was “To learn multiplication using two digits, I hope to learn from mistakes made.” After completing his assignment, he said, “Still making mistakes, but understanding a little.” Realizing that mistakes on homework are opportunities for further growth, rather than being dreadful or embarrassing, is crucial for children. Participant 8 said that his goal for reading was, “To read harder words and get information from what I read” and then reported, “When I read every night, I get better at it.” These quotes suggest that these students were embracing academic challenges, which is an aspect of intrinsic learning goals and is moderately associated with intrinsic motivation to learn (Froiland & Worrell, 2016).
Theme 2: Helping Others
The goal of helping others was exhibited among 47% of participants (7 out of 15) and repeated on at least two different weeks among six out of seven (86%). Aspiring to help others is a crucial intrinsic learning goal and life goal, in that it promotes psychological well-being and academic achievement (Froiland et al., 2015; Froiland & Worrell, 2017; Kasser & Ryan, 2001). The motive to help others often does not increase until middle adulthood, even though it promotes self-actualization (Reiss & Havercamp, 2005). Schools often struggle with making it clear how learning applies to daily life, let alone how it applies to helping others or bettering one’s community (Brophy, 2008). Thus, it is encouraging that elementary students were able to articulate intrinsic goals that involved helping others. For instance, a student decided to apply learning goals to service-oriented assignments. For an assignment involving reading about expressing kindness toward other people, Participant 10 wrote, “To be ready to show love to other people” and the progress note stated, “Brought flowers to school.” He also wrote a goal to “Learn to help young children,” which was part of an assignment to help kindergarten students. His progress note stated that he found a puzzle of Australia to bring into the class. He later had an assignment to support the Red Cross, with his learning goal, “To share what we have with people” and another time, “To share with hungry people,” followed by the progress note by “Brought in fruit roll-ups” and “Brought in $1.50,” respectively. These small acts of kindness are often a big deal for a fourth or fifth grader. It is likely that the student benefited from setting these intrinsic life goals and recording the progress, rather than viewing these activities as mere required assignments to be checked off a list, which could lead to disengagement (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Indeed, students from elementary school to college find satisfaction and personal growth from acting on the motive to help others (Froiland, 2011; Froiland & Worrell, 2017; Snyder, Yanchar, & Gantt, 2015; Weems et al., 2015).
On two different occasions, Participant 12 set a goal for a reading assignment that he wanted to read, “So that I can read to little kids.” This suggests that he saw the connection between reading and helping younger children by reading to them. Helping younger children is in accordance with an intrinsic life goal focused on community feeling, which is likely to promote engagement, learning, and long-term subjective well-being (Kasser & Ryan, 2001; Snyder et al., 2015).
Participant 2 set the goal, “Learn more words so people understand what I write,” indicating that she wanted her writing to benefit readers. Participant 4 wrote, “Learn to spell so that I strengthen my vocabulary, which will help me talk well to parents when I’m a Gym teacher.” For a report about interviewing local workers, Participant 9 wrote, “Learn why people like their jobs and how their jobs contribute to our community,” which is very different than focusing on how much money workers make.
Theme 3: Deeper Purposes for Academic Subjects
Eleven out of 15 (73%) participants set a goal involving Deeper Purposes for Academic Subjects and 91% of them (10/11) stated a goal in accordance with this theme on at least two different weeks. Deeper Purposes for Academic Subjects consisted of the following three subthemes: (1) Purposeful Writing and Spelling Goals, (2) Deeper Reasons for Reading, and (3) Meaningful Math and Science Learning Goals. Each subtheme is explained below which is important because different academic subjects have some different motivational affordances (Brophy, 2008), even though there is some overlap among subjects in terms of the opportunities they offer.
Subtheme A: Purposeful Writing and Spelling Goals
Participant 2 took a positive and purposeful view of a handwriting assignment, “Be able to write in cursive so people can read it well,” whereas many children look at learning cursive as tedious. On another occasion, she viewed spelling as a chance to “Learn lots of new words.” Likewise Participant 12 said, “I want to learn spelling so I can write letters to people” and then reiterated that goal on two other occasions. He also wrote on one goal sheet that he wanted to “Spell better so that I can read better.” Participant 4 said, on two different occasions, that she wanted to engage in spelling, “So I can write on the internet with friends,” suggesting that she could see how spelling could actually help meet her need for relatedness, which promotes intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Participant 11 said he wanted to, “Learn to write better stories” and reported progress in terms of, “I became a little better at writing stories after struggling for a while, my sister helped me.” Learning goals and intrinsic motivation promote deep academic engagement and persistence, which is important when developing academic skills (Froiland & Oros, 2014). Participant 11’s learning goal may have helped him take on the “struggle” with the help of his sister.
Participant 6 set the goal “To learn to spell more words” and later reflected, “I expanded my vocabulary.” On another occasion she set the goal, “To have a better knowledge of my spelling words,” and then reported, “Learned how to spell prediction.” In the first instance, she saw beyond the assignment and realized that spelling could stimulate vocabulary development. Interestingly, Participant 7 set a goal to “Expand my vocabulary” for a spelling workbook assignment and then reported finding the silent letters interesting. Participant 8 wrote multiple learning goals for spelling on various occasions, such as, “I want to spell better” and “I want to spell bigger words and for people to understand my writing.” His progress note stated, “My writing every day is better, not just on tests,” suggesting that the student noticed important personal growth. Meeting one’s need for competence or personal growth is a path toward long-term happiness (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Whether before or after the homework assignment, these students appeared to be grasping that spelling is much more than getting 90% correct on a spelling test, winning a Spelling Bee, or just getting a spelling assignment done.
Subtheme B: Deeper Reasons for Reading
Some form of the word “read” showed up 79 times on the transcripts of the goal sheets for the 15 children. When expected to read a story about George Washington, Participant 1 wrote, “Learn about George Washington so I can be president.” Hopefully, this emanates from a desire to serve the United States, rather than to be famous, as seeking fame is an extrinsic goal associated with lower levels of well-being (Kasser & Ryan, 2001). In future studies, investigators may wish to help children further insure that their learning goals have underlying intrinsic motives. However, this goal is full of hope and an important aspect of reading is expanding one’s horizons. Participant 2 employed a goal of “Be able to read and understand it.” While this may sound like an obvious goal, many children feel pressured to focus on reading quickly or to read in order to earn all sorts of prizes from parents, teachers, and corporations. Some children read to out-read their peers, which is generally associated with anxiety and reduced satisfaction with learning (Ames, 2013). One of the purest goals for reading is to simply understand what is read. Participant 4 had similar goals, such as, “So I can gain knowledge about life” and “So I can understand what I read.” Participant 15 saw the potential for reading to enhance her vocabulary and conversations with others, “Learn new words to say.” She also saw that a book report was an opportunity to “Learn how to summarize,” which is an important skill.
For reading a book about Korea, Participant 8 wrote the goal, “Learn harder words and about multicultural people and places.” He later noted progress as, “I learned that the celebration of the New Year went on for 17 days.” On another occasion, he provided the progress note, “I’m a better reader at school and I understand more stuff.”
In reading about History, Participant 11 set the goal, “To learn what Elijah McCoy was famous for and where he was born and raised,” followed by, “I learned that he invented the sprinkler and the lubricator for train engines. He was born in Canada and lived in Michigan.” His learning goal likely promoted enjoyment of reading about history and retention of what he learned. However, Brophy et al. (2012) articulated deep motivational affordances within history, such as learning from past mistakes, understanding the motives of individuals and groups in the past, seeing how a hero, leader, or group of people overcame adversity, and gaining more insight into the development of culture and the current state of affairs. Thus, perhaps further elaborated learning goals would be even more beneficial, such as “I hope to learn what Elijah McCoy was famous for and how Michigan and Canada may have influenced him” or “I hope to learn what Elijah McCoy was famous for and how he overcame struggles as a budding inventor.”
Participant 12 set an intrinsic goal to “Read with my buddies.” Realizing that reading can be shared with friends suggests that his need for relatedness can be met through reading, which predicts further intrinsic motivation to read (Ryan & Deci, 2000). In each of the aforementioned cases, students found intrinsic reasons for reading.
Subtheme C: Meaningful Math and Science Learning Goals
Participant 8 said that he wanted to study for his science test because, “I want to understand the digestive system and it will help me if I want to become a doctor.” While his school psychologist could probably help him see the applicability for this knowledge even if he does not become a doctor, his ability to identify a potential long-term value for this knowledge is a form of autonomous motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which is likely to lead to greater engagement with related aspects of science in the future. Participant 1 said, “Learn how a marble goes over a hill” and subsequently reported, “I learned to do an experiment,” which is a valuable skill.
Participant 11 said he aimed to, “Learn how the respiratory system works and I hope to get an A on the test.” A great deal of research suggests that the presence of a learning goal buffers one against the negative effects of performance approach goals and that both types of goals can contribute to child development (Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Thrash, 2002). The progress report suggests that he learned interesting facts, “Learned that the pharynx is what hurts when you have a sore throat and the small intestine stretched out would be about ½ mile long.”
Participant 4 saw math as preparation for the future. For instance, one learning goal was stated as, “Learn to develop my thinking as I get older” and another she wrote was, “Practice math for my future job.” Participant 6 wrote five iterations of the goal, “To understand long division” and her final progress note said, “Now I can do long division and it makes sense.”
Participant 7 set a goal of learning to have more fun with math and reported after his homework, “I began to have some fun with math.” Participant 8 wrote the learning goal, “So I can get a better job and be responsible with my money” prior to his multiplication homework and then reported progress, “I learned to carry the tens.” Participant 9 stated, “I want to learn and find out how much 1 degree is,” followed by the progress note, “Measurement of degrees is what I became better at because it has to do with skateboarding.” Participant 14 stated a very specific learning goal, “Convert fractions to mixed numbers” and reported later, “It was interesting to learn how to do it.” In each of these cases, students were finding a deeper meaning and interest in math and science than simply getting good grades, impressing others, or avoiding failure. This suggests that they will be more likely to embrace math and science related challenges in the future (Brophy, 2013).
Convergent Findings
The validity of the current data is supported by the fact that the favorable findings in the current study (e.g., students writing fine intrinsic learning goals applied to a variety of subjects and reporting positive progress after completing their homework assignments) are in harmony with the findings of Froiland (2011), in which the treatment group (who learned how to set intrinsic learning goals) gained statistically significantly more parent-rated intrinsic motivation to learn and child-rated positive emotions toward homework and school than the control group. The current findings are also in harmony with qualitative analyses of parent journals, which indicate that the parents recognized that their children were more focused on learning throughout the weeks of intervention and more happily engaged with a variety of academic subjects (Froiland, 2015). Parents reported very high levels of satisfaction with the training in general, which likely contributed to the 0% attrition rate (Froiland, 2011). This is much lower than the typical attrition rate in parent training studies, which is more than 30% (Assemany & McIntosh, 2002). The confluence of quantitative findings, parent journals, children’s goal sheets, and low attrition contribute to multiple forms of convergent data suggesting that children and parents found the sessions meaningful and beneficial. Both researchers independently identified similar motifs, even though they consolidated two themes via debate and further analysis.
Discussion
Students wrote many learning goals that were focused on personal growth and helping others (intrinsic life goals) that are related to various aspects of well-being, including intrinsic motivation to learn, positive emotions, healthy self-concept, reduced anxiety, fewer symptoms of depression, achievement, and greater happiness (Froiland, 2011; Froiland & Worrell, 2017; Kasser & Ryan, 2001). Previous studies have found that intrinsic learning goal setting can be taught to students, leading to increases in intrinsic motivation, happiness, and achievement (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014; Froiland, 2011; Latham & Brown, 2006). The current findings add to these studies by providing glimpses of the actual intrinsic learning goals that students generate over the course of a 5-week intervention. Other studies (e.g., Kasser & Ryan, 2001) have examined intrinsic goals, as measured by sound questionnaires, and found them related to positive outcomes, whereas the current study helps us gain an understanding of what these goals look like when generated by youth for homework in a variety of subjects. This is important because sometimes even teachers have trouble stating the intrinsic purpose or value underlying assignments, without the help of motivation experts that are familiar with the affordances of various subjects (Brophy, 2008).
Most participants set a goal involving Deeper Purposes for Academic Subjects and 91% of these students stated a goal in accordance with this theme on at least 2 different weeks. Children who become enthusiastic about learning usually start to fathom how meaningful learning can be (DeRobertis, 2017). In math, science, reading, history, social studies, and writing, students were finding a deeper meaning and interest than simply getting good grades, impressing others, getting the work done on time, or avoiding failure. Poignantly, many students noticed meaningful progress after writing their intrinsic goals and reflecting on their assignments such as, “My writing every day is better, not just on tests.” Another student noted meaningful progress as “Measurement of degrees is what I became better at because it has to do with skateboarding.” Although the intrinsic life goal of helping others (Theme 2) emanates from relatedness, a number of the goals involving a variety of deeper purposes for learning also involved some level of relatedness, such as the following: learning to spell or write as a means of communicating with friends, reading with friends, writing in cursive so that people can read it well, and learning to be responsible with money. This suggests that meaningfulness, helping others, and relatedness may all be intertwined for learners who learn to set intrinsic life goals in a supportive context.
Helping others was the second most prevalent theme, occurring among 47% of participants and recurring on at least a second week among 86% of those students. This has important implications for self-determination theory applied to schools, because the intrinsic life goal of helping others is a healthy manifestation of the psychological need for relatedness. Intrinsic life goals are positively associated with intrinsic motivation to learn and achievement, as well as supportive communication from adults (Froiland & Worrell, 2016, 2017). In a rigorous phenomenological study, DeRobertis (2017) found that students develop enthusiasm for learning within the context of a warm relationship in which the teacher models flexibility, empathy, and a love for learning. The teacher helps provide a context for the student to be meaningfully motivated in the form of, “mobilized imagination being called forth by the allure of the world” (p. 65). In the current study, the allure of the world was that it presented students with a variety of opportunities to learn to make the world an even better place. The warm, inspiring, and supportive context during this intrinsic goals intervention was provided by the parents.
Psychologists have the unique opportunity to provide students, teachers, and parents with insight on how to develop intrinsic learning goals. Helping students develop an appreciation for various school subjects is crucial if we want students to experience learning as transformative and persistently apply what they learn to contribute to the betterment of society (Brophy, 2008; Froiland, 2010). The themes and related quotes in this study could be used to enhance future interventions, such that parents, teachers, and students can see student generated examples of intrinsic life goals in various academic subjects. For instance, a teacher might explain to the class what previous students have found interesting about a homework assignment (e.g., “Reading helps me to learn new words to say” and “Reading helps me to gain knowledge about life”) or how the underlying skills and knowledge can prepare the student to help others (“I want to use my reading skills to read to little kids” and “I hope to learn more words so people understand what I write”). Brophy (2013) has indicated that teachers can set the stage for learning assignments by the way they introduce them and that even a brief explanation of the potentially motivating aspects of the assignment can orient students toward an appreciation for the topic, rather than studying out of a sense of obligation or pressure. If teachers introduced tasks in this manner and parents supported learning goals for homework, students may show even greater improvement in intrinsic motivation to learn and positive emotions toward learning. Teachers could also design more service learning projects that help elementary school students experience the value of applying knowledge to help others (Ponder & Lewis-Ferrell, 2009), but it is important that children engage in service learning for intrinsic reasons and not solely for grades, points, or the reduction of guilt. Thus, it is likely that service learning project engagement and enjoyment will be enhanced through intrinsic learning goals. However, it is unlikely that most parents or teachers will develop this type of approach without guidance or consultation from psychologists who develop expertise in motivation to learn (Brophy, 2013; Froiland & Worrell, 2016).
Theory and an abundance of prior research indicate that intrinsic life goals lead to various positive outcomes (Froiland, 2015; Froiland & Worrell, 2016; Kasser & Ryan, 2001). However, it is interesting that one of the themes was overtly healthy attitudes toward the learning process, indicating that students articulated goals that focused directly on enjoying learning in various subjects, developing a love for learning, learning from mistakes, and being creative. Students also reported positive learning and emotional outcomes after approaching homework with these goals. Perhaps setting goals to enjoy learning more, be creative, and take on rigorous academic challenges could be considered examples of intrinsic goals with an emphasis on personal growth (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009), whereas the goals within the theme of helping others are clearly intrinsic goals with an emphasis on community feeling (Kasser & Ryan, 2001).
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
The qualitative data in this study provided rich insight into the daily intrinsic learning goals that children write for their homework assignments. Reminding students to record the date on each learning goals sheet could facilitate future analyses of students’ progression over the course of the intervention. Although the researchers independently reviewed the transcripts and had a high level of agreement about the themes (and quotes representing the themes), both researchers have been significantly influenced by self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), learning goals research (e.g., Vansteenkiste et al., 2009) as well as Brophy’s (2008) concept of motivation to learn, which may have affected their inductive analyses to some extent. Of course, all researchers are influenced by the theories they value, so it is good to recognize which theories may have influenced researchers conducting inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). In the future, member checking would enable researchers to see if the themes resonated with examinees and/or if their quotes could have alternative interpretations.
Future qualitative studies of learning goals interventions could build on this one by including a more diverse sample of children with a broader grade range to see if similar themes emerge. However, it is important to point out that the positive association between intrinsic motivation, learning goals, academic engagement, and achievement has been replicated in the United States among Asian American, European American, Latino American, African American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander samples (Froiland et al., 2016; Froiland & Worrell, 2016). Likewise, autonomy-supportive parental communication has shown positive effects among diverse samples in many different countries (Pomerantz et al., 2014; Vasquez et al., 2015). In addition, future studies could examine the school setting in order assess the extent to which teachers are introducing homework assignments in a way that guides children toward intrinsic life goals. For instance, one could examine whether teachers explain how topics and assignments are interesting and build skills that can be used to help others, or whether they follow more common patterns of heavily emphasizing deadlines, grades, and consequences for not completing assignments on time (Brophy, 2013). Prior quantitative and qualitative research indicates that students become more enthusiastic about learning when teachers are autonomy supportive and empathic (DeRobertis, 2016; Froiland et al., 2016).
Conclusions
Late elementary school children are capable of writing intrinsic life goals for homework that promote intrinsic motivation. Parents were able to teach children to write meaningful intrinsic goals for a variety of subjects, including music and foreign language. Children also wrote intrinsic goals that were focused directly on enjoying learning, persistence, and creativity, as well as intrinsic goals focused on helping others. In each case, children reported positive motivational, emotional, or academic progress after doing homework with these goals. Future learning goals intervention studies with children of similar ages could share these student-generated goals with other students so that they can see a wider variety of applications and child friendly examples than psychologists and educators might generate on their own.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
