Dynamic relations between motivation and performance across content in a mathematics learning technology

Motivation is theorized to be situated and dynamic, changing across contexts and time as students interact with learning materials. To capture these dynamic relations, 9091 third through fifth graders were surveyed multiple times throughout the year as they engaged with mathematics objectives in the learning technology, ST Math. All constructs displayed greater variance in motivation within students than between students among third graders; however, variance within students declined as grade-level increased. Within students, interest and utility positively predicted subsequent performance; effort cost negatively predicted subsequent performance. After partialling out within-student associations, contextual associations of objective-content motivation and performance were smaller and often in the opposite direction; broader measures of mathematics motivation had largely null relationships with performance. Results provide insight into how motivation and performance may relate during decision-making and application of effort in classroom activities, and how these relations may be different than those considering average levels across students.