Exploring the Disconnect Between Self Determination Theory (SDT) and the Engineering Classroom Environment

This paper is part of NSF Grantees’ Poster Session at the ASEE 2014 Annual Conference, and describes a recently funded project (October 2013) under the Research Initiation Grant in Engineering Education (RIGEE) program. It is hypothesized that there is disconnect between the principles outlined in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the actual classroom environment, thus creating a barrier to intrinsic motivation needed for student learning. The proposed work is an empirical investigation to explore this disconnect in the context of undergraduate engineering education. The primary tasks will be to (i) assess the Faculty knowledge of SDT; (ii) develop a measurement framework to assess the classroom environment as it relates to SDT; and (iii) determine the association among Faculty knowledge of SDT, student motivation, learning environment, and student learning. The research design and measurement framework are developed through a meaningful collaboration between the researchers from Engineering, Psychology, and Education. This takes advantage of current standards and techniques employed in the field of Social-Cognitive Psychology. Since the beginning of this project in Fall 2013, a total of 104 undergraduate students and 50 engineering Faculty at Florida Atlantic University participated in the study, and the preliminary findings will be presented in this conference.