Teaching quality: relationships between passion, deep strategy to learn, and epistemic curiosity

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teaching quality and students’ harmonious passion, deep strategy to learn, and epistemic curiosity in mathematics in 1,003 high school students. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling, and results showed support for the hypotheses tested. First, we found that teaching quality – specifically, providing an optimal challenge, focusing on the process, and offering positive feedback – predicted students’ harmonious passion. Second, students’ harmonious passion predicted, at the individual and class level, students’ deep strategy to learn. Third, students’ harmonious passion predicted, at the individual and class level, students’ epistemic curiosity. Findings were discussed regarding their implications for educational practice and methodological suggestions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematics
• harmonious passion
• teaching quality
• high school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria [grant number PIFULPGC-2013-SOCJUR-1].

Notes on contributors

Zuleica Ruiz-Alfonso

Zuleica Ruiz-Alfonso is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Education of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). She wrote her dissertation on the role of passion in the educational context. She won the Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award and has been awarded with the Extraordinary End of Title Prize. She is still dedicated to research on passion in the educational context and to the research on other explanatory factors of the academic performance.

Jaime León

Jaime León González-Vélez is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Education of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). He wrote his doctoral thesis on the relationship between emotional intelligence and motivation in sport groups. He is currently dedicated to research on the explanatory factors of academic performance in secondary education.