Contextualized Motivation Theory (CMT): Intellectual Passion, Mathematical Need, Social Responsibility, and Personal Agency in Learning Mathematics
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. Here, I characterize motivation, defined as an individual's desire to act in particular ways, through analysis of students' extended, collaborative problem solving efforts. Grounded in a longitudinal research project in calculus learning and teaching, Contextualized Motivation Theory (CMT) offers a means for understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning. Students in this study chose to act upon various intellectual-mathematical motivations and social-personal motivations, existing simultaneously, within a supporting "web" of motivations. Students exhibited intellectual passion in persisting beyond obtaining correct answers to build understandings of mathematical ideas. CMT positions personal agency as the active power in intellectual passion, foregrounds mathematical need as a kernel of students' problem solving industry, characterizes the social nature of motivation, and encompasses conceptually driven conditions that foster student engagement in mathematics learning.
Author: Janelle Marie Hart
Institution: Brigham Young University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W747896538