Understanding student engagement with research: a study of pre-service teachers’ research perceptions, research experience, and motivation

Abstract

This study reports on findings from a research project that investigated the extent to which pre-service teachers at a major metropolitan Australian university engage with research, and the factors that influence their level of engagement or disengagement. Results from survey responses (n = 235) and focus group interviews suggest that attitudes towards research are more positive among pre-service teachers who possess research experience and those who are intrinsically motivated with respect to their university studies. The article discusses the implications of these results for the effective organisation and promotion of research activities for pre-service teachers.

Keywords:

• motivation
• pre-service teachers
• research
• research experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. First year: yes = 8 (12.50%), no = 56 (87.50%); second year: yes = 11 (26.19%), no = 31 (73.81%); third year: yes = 18 (60.00%), no = 12 (40.00%); fourth year or beyond: yes = 27 (56.25%), no = 21 (43.75%).

2. Given that we select only those items relevant to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, we do not intend these items to represent Breen and Lindsay’s scale more fully. Nor should any psychometric properties of the full scale be assumed. Rather, we use these four items as one might use interview prompts, to enable a focus on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation only.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Guilbert

Daniel Guilbert is an undergraduate student studying education and psychology at Macquarie University (Sydney). He holds a first-class Honours degree in Economics.

Rod Lane

Rod Lane is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Macquarie University (Sydney). His research includes two overlapping themes: (1) investigating learning processes in science/geographical education and (2) examining teacher quality and informing teacher professional learning. This includes the exploration of approaches for improving the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of in-service and pre-service teachers.

Penny Van Bergen

Penny Van Bergen is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Macquarie University (Sydney). She is interested in children’s memory development and in pre-service teachers’ research skills.