1. Goal Orientation Theory
EDU 330: Educational Psychology
Daniel Moos, PhD

2. Something to wake you up….
If you look at the number on my face you won’t find thirteen anyplace C L O C K

3. Something to wake you up….
Tear one off and scratch my head; what was red is black instead I C K M A T C H S T

4. Something to wake you up….
What is always coming but never arrives? T O M O R R O W

5. Something to wake you up….
What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? T O W E L

6. Something to wake you up….
What can travel around the world while staying in the corner? S T A M P

7. Goal Orientation Theory
EDU 330: Educational Psychology
Daniel Moos, PhD

8. What say you? Teacher A Teacher B
I think we should focus on student performance. That is, how students perform on formal assessments. For one, performance offers a tangible and measurable tool to assess students. Second, “performance” is what matters in the real world. Do you really care how much a doctor has “learned” if he or she can’t perform? Do care how much your car mechanic has “learned” if he or she can’t perform?
Teacher A is soooo wrong. We should focus on student learning. School should be about developing students’ desire to be lifelong learners, their curiosity about developing new skills and knowledge, and their improvement and not performance. I want to de-emphasize “performance” in my classroom and emphasize “learning” as what matters.
Teacher A
Teacher B

9. Goal Orientation: Mastery
Mastery: Goal is to truly understand or master the task at hand; students who are mastery-oriented are:
Interested in self-improvement
Tend to compare their current level of achievement to their own prior achievement
Approach: Interested in truly mastering an academic task
Avoidance: Interested in avoiding misunderstanding the task

10. Goal Orientation: Performance
Performance: Goal is to demonstrate their ability compared to others. Students who are performance-oriented:
Are interested in competition
Are interested in demonstrating their competence, and outperforming others
Tend to use other students as points of comparison, rather than themselves.
Approach: Interested in demonstrating that they are more competent than other students (i.e., have more ability than others
Avoidance: Interested in avoiding appearing incompetent or stupid

11. Goal Orientation: Mastery/Performance
Approach
Interested in truly mastering an academic task
Interested in demonstrating that they are more competent than other students (i.e., have more ability than others)
Avoidance
Interested in avoiding misunderstanding the task
Interested in avoiding appearing incompetent or stupid
Can hold multiple goals simultaneously
Individual differences
Gender differences?

12. Goal Orientation: Mastery/Performance
Model commitment to learning and understanding
Example: Approach learning with a positive attitude and willingness to take risk
Focus attention on effort and strategy use; NOT ability or intelligence
Example: When student succeeds, praise effort and strategies; when students struggle, provide feedback on effort and strategy use
Teach adaptive learning strategies
Example: Model how students should self-regulate: Plan, monitor, and reflect
Encourage student involvement and responsibility
Example: Encourage all students to participate in various forms
De-emphasize negative consequences of making mistakes
Example: Emphasize that making mistakes are a part of learning process; model
Decrease social comparison
Example: Do not post grades in public space
Foster realistic, but challenging goals

13. Goal Orientation: Mastery/Performance
Brady’s goal in Spanish class is to become fluent in the language because he is interested in the language and wants to be able to converse with others and read Spanish literature.
Mastery approach
Allie’s goal in Science class is to avoid appearing incompetent
Performance avoid
Joe’s goal in Math class is to demonstrate to his teacher and to other students that he is the best in the class
Performance approach
Amanda’s goal in Language Arts class is to avoid misunderstanding the grammatical lessons presented by her teacher.
Mastery avoid

14. Goal Orientation: Mastery/Performance
Think of a time when your behavior was guided by a mastery goal orientation. What do you attribute to this goal orientation?
Think of a time when your behavior was guided by a performance goal orientation. What do you attribute to this goal orientation?
What strategies for supporting mastery goal orientations are particularly effective for your developmental group/content area? Why?
Is there such a thing as “positive” competition in the classroom? Why or why not? If so, how does a teacher create positive competition?

15. Goal Orientation: Effect on learning (I)
Performance-avoidance goals result in few benefits
Performance-approach goals may have adaptive value (positively associated with task value, academic self-concept, effort, and achievement)

16. Goal Orientation: Effect on learning (II)
Students who adopt higher levels of performance-approach goals more likely to earn a higher grade
BUT: they also have less interest by the end of the semester
Students who adopt mastery goals tend to demonstrate increased interest.
Results suggest that it could be that performance-approach and mastery goals serve two ends for the student—achievement and interest.
Others have questioned the benefits of encouraging performance-approach goals
If students are encouraged to evaluate their performance against norms, then inevitably some will be left out. For every student who achieves above the norm, one falls below it.

17. Summarizing theories of motivation: Summary of Big Idea Document
Intrinsic, extrinsic motivation
Self-Determination Theory
Expectancy x Value Theory
Humanistic Theory
Mastery, Performance Goal Orientation