Components of task values in a university mathematics course: trends, fluctuations, and relations to individual characteristics

Abstract According to situated expectancy-value models, task values are important in mathematical learning processes. In university mathematics courses, some students devalue the mathematical content. To gain more insight into students’ task values during mathematics lectures, we analyzed the fluctuations of different task value components within and between lessons in a first-semester lecture in relation to individual characteristics. The participants in our study were 181 university mathematics students enrolled in a teacher education program. They reported their intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value for the study program, and utility value for professional life thrice in each lesson, for four lessons over one semester. At the beginning of the course, they reported individual characteristics. The results of variance decompositions and correlational analyses indicated that almost all task value components differ only marginally between lessons and time points, but substantially between students. We found strong correlations between interest in university mathematics and intrinsic and attainment values. We discuss our findings with regard to different task value components.