Publications & Resources

An Exploration of Selected Conative Constructs and Their Relation to Science Learning

Mar 1998

Douglas N. Jackson III

The conative domain of aptitude constructs spans the domains of individual differences in motivation and volition. Conative constructs are implicated whenever students select from alternative courses of action and maintain effort and persistence until their goals are achieved or abandoned for new goals. This research sampled a broad range of conative constructs, including achievement motivation, anxiety, goal orientations, interest, and expectancies, among others. The purpose was threefold: (a) to explore and clarify relationships among conative constructs hypothesized to affect student commitment to learning and subsequent performance; (b) to determine whether or not individual differences in conative constructs were associated with the learning activities and time-on-task of students engaged in a computerized science learning task; and (c) to ascertain whether or not the conative constructs and the time and activity variables from a learning task were associated with performance differences in a paper-and-pencil science recall measure.

Jackson, D. N. III. (1998). An exploration of selected conative constructs and their relation to science learning (CSE Report 467). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).