Learners’ Needs Satisfaction, Classroom Climate, and Situational Motivations: Evaluating Self-Determination Theory in an Engineering Context

This work-in-progress study examines connections among classroom climate, psychological needs satisfaction, and motivations in a college course setting. According to self-determination theory (SDT), positive forms of motivation arise when people experience a sense of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In learning settings, these three basic psychological needs are satisfied when students feel a sense of efficacy and mastery; a supportive connection to others; and choice and control. Research illustrates that instructors play an important role in creating environments that support these three needs through their pedagogical choices, interactive style, and classroom culture and climate setting. In this study, we explore relationships among students’ needs satisfaction, perceptions of the learning climate, and situational motivations. Participants in the study are first-year undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a technical course that uses non-traditional pedagogies to integrate math, science, and engineering. Student responses to the Situational Motivation Scale, Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction scale, and Learning Climate Questionnaire are analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and bivariate correlations. Consistent with SDT predictions, our findings show that students’ needs satisfaction and positive evaluations of the learning climate correlate positively to autonomous motivations. We also observe that students’ positive motivations are not entirely temporally stable. Over a one-week period in a course project, students report a significant drop in positive motivations followed by a quick recovery. Using information on the course context and assignments, we offer possible explanations for the temporal shifts in motivations. Our preliminary findings highlight important connections between motivations and course variables that instructors may influence through their choice of learning activities and pedagogies.