Are Students With High Ability in Math More Motivated in Math and Science Than Other Students?

Abstract

Expectancy-value motivation profiles were identified in a sample of US ninth-grade students in 2009 (n = 19,259) using latent profile analysis. Of four distinct profiles, two were high, one typical, and one low in math and in science. In each area, the two high profiles were distinguished by (1) high self-efficacy with lower utility value and (2) high utility value with lower self-efficacy. High-ability was identified by a math score at least one standard deviation above the mean within the race/ethnicity group. Forty-one percent of high-ability students had high math motivation, while only 27% had high science motivation. Evidence of disidentification was observed. Some high-ability students had low motivation in math (15%) and science (28%). Implications for talent development and gifted education are discussed.

Keywords:

• disidentification
• expectancy-value model
• giftedness
• latent profile analysis
• math
• motivation
• science
• secondary data analysis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first author thanks Dr. Thomas J. Ward and Dr. Jason A. Chen for their advice and feedback on earlier versions of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lori Andersen

Lori Andersen is an assistant professor at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Her research interests center on the factors that influence the STEM persistence plans of high-ability students. E-mail: [email protected]

Tracy L. Cross

Dr. Tracy L. Cross holds an endowed chair, Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Psychology and Gifted Education, and is the Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary. Previously he served Ball State University as the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Gifted Studies, the founder and Executive Director of both the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development, and the Institute for Research on the Psychology of the Gifted Students. He has published well over 150 articles, book chapters, and columns; made over 200 presentations at conferences; and published eight books. He has edited five journals in the field of gifted studies (Gifted Child Quarterly, Roeper Review, Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, Research Briefs) and is the current editor of the Journal for the Education of the Gifted. He received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2011 from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and the Distinguished Service Award from both The Association for the Gifted (TAG) and NAGC. He also received the Early Leader and Early Scholar Awards from NAGC and in 2009 was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the MENSA Education and Research Foundation. In 2004, he was named the Outstanding Researcher for Ball State University. He serves as the President of NAGC. In addition to an active scholarly agenda, for 9 years he served as the Executive Director of the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities, a residential high school for intellectually gifted adolescents. He has served as director of two state associations for the gifted (Wyoming Association for Gifted Education and Indiana Association for the Gifted). He also served as president of TAG and on the Board and Executive Committee of the NAGC. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his wife, Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross, four children (Ian, Keenan, Colin, Eva), and Bob the English bulldog. E-mail: [email protected]