Student-Generated Connections to Chemistry Content to Enhance Interest in Introductory Chemistry

Research on motivation has shown that students perform better when they perceive utility-value in their course. Utility-value is a domain of motivation that is reflective of the perceived importance or usefulness of a task for accomplishing future goals. In this study, students in a community college introductory chemistry course were tasked with writing about how certain chemistry concepts were related to their future careers throughout the semester to potentially increase their perceived utility-value of the course. In comparison to a control group, these students had higher overall course grades, found chemistry more interesting, and the course material more useful. The impact on motivation seemed to be larger for underrepresented minority students when compared to white students.