STEM Students’ Motivation and Learning Approaches

This dissertation explores students’ approaches to learning within the context of STEM majors, focusing on how motivational constructs—mastery approach (AMA), academic self-efficacy (ASE), and academic amotivation (AAM)—interact with deep (DLA) and surface (SLA) learning approaches to influence perceived academic achievement (AACH), academic engagement (AE), and major retention (MR). Utilizing structural equation modeling, the study investigates these relationships to address low STEM retention rates. Data from 307 undergraduate students were analyzed through correlation and mediation analyses revealing that ASE consistently predicts AACH positively, with SLA negatively mediating this relationship, while DLA’s expected positive effect on AACH was nonsignificant and unexpectedly negative, diverging from prior Students’ Approach to Learning (SAL) research (e.g., Biggs, 1993). These findings contribute to STEM education by underscoring ASE’s pivotal role, questioning DLA’s efficacy in STEM contexts, and highlighting AAM’s detrimental effects, potentially driven by discipline-specific factors like cognitive demands. This work advances SAL and motivation frameworks, offering practical implications for fostering ASE, mitigating amotivation, and rethinking learning strategies to enhance STEM retention, while laying groundwork for future research into discipline-specific learning dynamics.