Gender Differentiated Motivation 1

Gender Differentiated Motivation in High School Students

Amelia Jennings

Providence Christian College

 Gender Differentiated Motivation 2
Abstract

When we talk about motivating students, it is easy to assert that every student is different, but
once we actually try to start educating these students, the practical and theoretical approaches to
motivation fail to coincide. The intent of this research is to examine motivational factors, as well
as to attempt to show how, especially in STEM subjects, male and female students respond to
mentors and teachers with varying levels of motivation based on peer to peer interactions and
perceptions, personal self-perceptions, and student/instructor relationship. Motivated learning is
social at the core, but complex in nature. To this end, I researched articles and studies on student
motivation. My methods also included interviewing adults in areas of professional and unofficial
student interactions. I interviewed a professor who has worked as a teacher, school principal, and
other educational jobs to find out her perspective on student motivation in classrooms,
particularly in private Christian schools. I also interviewed a mentor for a high school STEM
program, FIRST Robotics, to find out about the coaching staffs approach to motivating students
of both genders and about the resultant pursuit of STEM related careers for females particularly.
Both interviews, along with my reading, show the importance of the student-teacher/mentor
relationship in creating an environment that fosters a positive self-concept in students and
providing the stimulus that will help different students succeed, such as competition or
cooperation.

Keywords: motivation, motivational factors, STEM

 Gender Differentiated Motivation 3
I. Introduction

Peter and William took the same high school math program as Sara, but as they continued

along the program they did less and less of the work and their exams suffered increasingly lower

scores. They did not put any more time into homework, and though they were frustrated about

their grades, they were not interested in trying to do better. When Sara had taken these same

classes, she had encountered difficulty initially, but once the instruction method changed she was

motivated to do well on homework and exams. Despite this difference, all three students went on

to take college level math courses in their senior years. What was the difference earlier? What

changed after?

The same thing happened with other courses as well: in English, the boys procrastinated

on papers and turned them in late, while Sara had consistently worked on time, with time for

edits. Why did she try when they did not? Sara was not exceptionally gifted over the boys, so

why did she respond to instructions and deadlines differently? Each individual student is

different, but there may be patterns of differences in motivation based on gender.

This research will focus on three high school students in a math class at a private

Christian school in Pasadena. While Peter, William, and Sara were homeschooled, even in small

or medium class sizes this phenomenon is recognizable. When gauging motivation in objective

graded courses like these, grades represent a fair portion of a students level of motivation. It will

look at not only the effect of grades, but also factors like anxiety, persistence, learning focus, and

self-efficacy. It will also consider differences in study management, attribution, and expectancy

value. If possible, the students interest in different career choices will be evaluated as an effect

of motivation. Traditionally, more men have pursued careers in STEM, but women joining the

field is on the rise.

 Gender Differentiated Motivation 4
What gender factors affect how these students are motivated? Is social pressure driving a

lack of interest or inclination in different gender peer groups? This is important to evaluate for

teachers, so that they can challenge students to get past social motives to pursue academics or

careers in fields they have a gift in. What other social factors like culture are involved? Teachers

will more effectively motivate students if they understand these factors and work with respect for

their family values. Do teaching methods and teaching approaches affect motivation? If young

men and women respond differently, a teacher will more effectively reach the whole classroom

by integrating various methods.

Students in mixed gender high school classrooms have varying motivational factors that

must be addressed with a differentiated method. This research will attempt to show how,

especially in STEM subjects, male and female students respond to mentors and teachers with

varying levels of motivation based on peer to peer interactions and perceptions, personal self-

perceptions, and student/instructor relationship. Motivated learning is social at the core, but

complex in nature.

II. Literature Reviews

Sociocultural Influences for Motivated Learning

Because culture is part of how people understand themselves and others, it plays a role in

the development of self concept (Yun Dai, 2001). A sense of self is universal to all cultures, but

each persons sense of self is unique, developed by their experiences, mediated by language.

What the article argues is that cross cultural studies are not particularly accurate because of the

differences between how things are manifest in different cultures. Although some aspects of how

children understand their abilities and effort are standard in one culture, the process and ways

they change may not be the same for children of other cultures. He cites instances of studies
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 5
where children of Western cultures rate their ability higher than children of estimable equal

ability in Chinese or Japanese cultures, who do not rate themselves as highly.

By emphasizing the fact that children from different cultures develop their sense of self

differently, this article supports the hypothesis that students are motivated in different ways. A

students self-concept plays a major role in how they are motivated, and if each childs self-

concept is affected by unique aspects of culture, the way they will be motivated must account for

their individual motivations.

Academic and Motivational Pathways

Academic success in middle school affects higher grade motivation, as it forms sense of

self and can promote issues if the experience is negative (Eccles, Roeser, Wigfield, and

Freedman-Doan, 1999). Few studies have sought to show whether early academic and socio-

emotional transitions affect development in later years, but it is possible. Eccles, Wigfield,

Schiefele and hypothesize that motivation lies in the answers to questions of capability, needed

skills, potential for success and reasons to participate: whether the answers are positive or

negative means they will be efficient learners or develop an aversion for school.

The article explained Banduras idea of self efficacy, which is where students expect they

can accomplish a course of action to have the desired outcome, which it is based on past

experience, verbal motivation, physiological reactions, and vicarious learning. By adolescence,

children can discern between ability and effort in forming their self expectancy and can

recognize the inverse need/compensation for them. Dwecks studies showed that children believe

ability cannot improve, but if they believe effort can improve, they will be more motivated.

The article describes Nicholls and the decreasing sense of personal ability with age from

first grade until high schoolshown in cross sectional and longitudinal studies. This includes self
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 6
esteem as well as expectancy to succeed, shown by decline in repeat attempts after failures. The

teachers placement and accompanying expectations play a role in personal assessment. By early

adolescence, peer comparison is a definite factor in self assessment. Connell and Wellborn

hypothesized that children who feel they control their success will be more motivated, and

Skinner elaborates on this, holding that the contingency of attempts with success is important for

honing that feeling of control. With age, children can distinguish better when they earned their

success and when they did not, so they become more negative in their view of ability to control

their success. Decline in motivation can be due to less ability to manage stress of outside

influences in transition through schooling, and thus a loss of sense of competency and greater

discouragement at academic struggle. Reasons may be lower self esteem, lower self-control,

behavioral issues going in, less self-organization, and less support at home or school.

Increasingly less motivation results from greater difficulty and lower marks, because students

cope with failure by devaluing the challenge.

This article had a host of factors for motivation, starting with how different internal and

external elements contribute to a students sense of self. Those pre-existing assumptions shape

how they respond to future external feedback, which means that students can be effectively

motivated in various ways. It specifically follows the patterns of student attitude toward school.

STEM Career Interest Study

Social identity and self concept are factors for students pursuing STEM (Robnett and

Leaper, 2012). Factors include perception of ability and value, as well as support from friend

groups. For students, motivation is related to self concepts about a subject in school as well as

career path aspirations. Interest in STEM is correlated to ties with a friendship group and to

whether the group is mixed gender or homogenous. The article found that girls with interest in
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 7
STEM had a higher value for science and associated with a mixed-gender group. The more

homogenous groups enforced gender role more strongly. The study this article discussed

conducted a survey of the parents education, the students grades, their interest, values, ability,

friend groups, and how strong their group ties were.

Although this article focused particularly on interest in pursuing STEM in classes and

career, it has implications for motivation to take and succeed in STEM related courses. It points

to differences in how boys and girls are motivated to pursue math and science courses based on

peer groups.

Gender, Self-perception, and Academic Problems in High School

This article established the importance of high school academics for long term life

trajectory, in light of the effect of high school pressures for conformity and success. (Crosnoe,

Riegle-Crumb, and Muller, 2007). This article showed how students, especially girls, are affected

by their own and others perceptions, regardless of actually ability to not be motivated. It

described models of identity formation. In one model, individuals make their sense of self in

partnership with others through close relations, social media, and the broader culture around

them, while in another, individuals use past experience to set up sense of self for trajectory for

success beyond past attempts. Feedback from teachers was more close to home than having a

specialist determine a learning disability. Individuals will try to maintain a positive self concept,

so before accepting inability, they will either downplay education or turn to something else as

their ability. The study showed that girls were more likely to be affected by negative feedback

than boys, and that negative self-concepts are bigger issue for girls than boys. The reason was

that the article identified girls as more socially reactive, needing to match their peers

academically. After conducting a survey of students, it found that girls who had recently failed at
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 8
least one class, but belonged to academically oriented peer groups had a decreased self-

perception of intelligence, whereas girls in the same situation who associated with less

academically oriented peer groups had an increased self perception. The theory is that girls

facing high pressure from family or friends and who did not have an excuse such as a learning

disability responded to direct external feedback because of the relational aspect of it. The result:

lower self confidence, lower motivation, and pursuit of less rigorous classes. Boys did not have

this element of special discouragement based on where the negative feedback came from.

This article highlights the difference in how boys and girls respond to external feedback

about academics. Their sense of self is affected by external components like family pressures,

peer group patterns, and performance. Although the study rests on the assumption that girls are

more socially affected on the whole, more broadly it demonstrates differences in how boys and

girls are motivated in courses given a variety of factors.

Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning Components of Education

In self regulated learning the student must regulate behavior and cognition (Pintrich and

De Groot, 1990). This includes metacognitive strategies for cognition, personal control of effort

in class like blocking out distractions, and actual strategies for learning such as for remembering

or understanding. All this is must be implemented, and personal motivations interface with these

strategies to result in actual in-class performance. Self-expectancy is important in this, as

students who believe they can do something will work harder at cognition and effort. Value is

also important: kids who believe they are doing something for educational goals as well as for

interest will be more motivated. Emotional reaction to learning tasks also has an impact, but test

anxiety is difficult to appropriate: some tests show that high-anxious students have high effort

but inefficient cognitive habits, while other tests show they had low effort. In this study, 8th grade
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 9
students were surveyed, and though performance was equal across gender, boys considered

themselves to be more efficacious and girls demonstrated higher test-anxiety. The study also

found that self efficacy and value played a major role in motivation, though not necessarily in

performance outcomes. Students would make use of cognitive strategies, though perhaps not the

best ones.

What this article says about the research topic is that, while performance may be more

even across genders, some of the motivational factors differ for boys and girls. While boys had

more confidence, girls had less, and these different concepts of self affect what cognitive

strategies students use.

Motivating Underrepresented Students in STEM

With the goal of sustaining national advances in STEM, America needs to draw on a

more diverse body of citizens for the future, especially in light of possibility of the minorities

becoming the majority population in the future (Salto et all, 2014). Current initiatives have had

minor success, but even some under-represented minorities entering college in pursuit of STEM

change to different areas of study after the first couple of years. The article suggested that, to

solve the problem, schools need to get students involved in high school to give them skills and

promote motivation. The students do hands-on work, pick their area of study, give presentations,

and work with faculty who are also of varied ethnic background. Working with labs takes away

possible psychological fears about mystery of STEM career settings, which can be a factor that

might deter motivation to pursue careers in STEM. The study showed that the influence of being

in a high-achieving peer group promoted self-efficacy as well. It stated that, according to the

social cognitive theory, shift in career selection processes may stem from changes in self efficacy

beliefs. Students reported increased self-efficacy, not based merely on increased skill, but also
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 10
seeing peers and mentors engaging in ways similar to them, reinforcing the idea that they

participate in this field.

This article relates to the research topic by showing how one study increased motivation

for typically underrepresented groups to pursue STEM. Although it addressed cultural groups

rather than women, women are also underrepresented in this field and in high school classes.

This kind of initiative may be helpful as a way of motivating female students in math and science

classes. Even without doing this kind of program, the same elements of giving students freedom

to work with mentoring from people they can relate to, in the midst of motivated peers, may

help motivate students in their classes.

III. Methodology

I interviewed one of my previous high school robotics team mentors. She has worked

with the team since it began and has been involved in several different facets of interaction with

the organizations board, coaches, and students. Because of this, I anticipated that she would be

able to report on student motivation, especially from the vantage point of her different tiers of

involvement in the program. As someone involved with the teams board, she can speak to the

goals and projections of the organization, about whether or not the organization seeks and sets

out intentionally to promote female students motivation in STEM.

I also interviewed an education professor who has been a teacher and involved in

education in various positions over the years. Because of her experience in different levels of the

education system I expected to hear a bit about how students are really motivated, based on her

own strategies as a teacher and administrator.

IV. Findings
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 11
I hoped to learn more about how male and female students are actually motivated

differently or not. In STEM related research especially, I hoped to see whether the national and

institutional outspokenness about the need for women and other underrepresented groups in that

field matches up with real practice and set goals. When I asked a mentor on a Christian home

schooled high school robotics team how she has seen the team motivate students, she said:

Several students have increased in motivation for a career in STEM as a result of involvement

in our FIRST Robotics team, and I suspect there are many more of which we are unaware of the

true impact of the program on them. She went on to give several examples of students who had

entered with minimal to zero interest in STEM or with shyness who are now graduating with

intentions of pursuing careers in STEM, and even already excelling in internships. When I was

on the team, often the girls took initiative to complete less technical tasks like marketing and

writing projects, and the mentor I interviewed did observe that girls still tend to take these tasks,

but she attributes that, perhaps this is due to females being more talented in writing or due to

females being willing to work at any and all tasks needed by the team. Part of this may be also

be due to the lack of female mentors in engineering, as she reported that only one of the female

mentors (in nearly 10 years as a team) had an engineering role, and only for one year. Despite the

prevalence of girls taking less STEM focused tasks on the team, there have been a number of

females who went on to STEM careers who fell into a broad range of levels of involvement in

engineering tasks.

This particular team, started by a 501(c)3 organization of Christian homeschooling

families, reaches out to pull students from all backgrounds: public, private, or home schooled,

high, low, or no evidence interest in STEM prior to the program, and from the entire Southern

New Hampshire area. Because the program is so intensive, during the build and competition
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 12
seasons, mentors sometimes do not have as much time to devote to training inexperienced or

unmotivated students. As a result, motivated students definitely get way more out of the

program, according to the mentor I interviewed. But while more motivated students do take the

lead, this mentor also noted that one coach in particular works to train and help less motivated

and less privileged students on the team. To the coaches, motivated does not necessarily mean

the student is excited about STEM or even confident in engineering tasks, but they are the

diligent students who are faithful in the small things. That is important, because while a

student may not feel they are able to do a difficult engineering task in such a competition-

centered program, they can build up to it by doing things they feel capable of doing, such as

putting tools away and accomplishing simple parts assembly.

That same principle of building up to bigger, more exciting jobs in a STEM program like

FIRST Robotics came through in my interview with an Education professor. She seems to affirm

that scaffolding learning as she shared her perspective on student motivation: I do believe that

students do what they can, meaning that, if they see the task as something that they can do they

are far more likely to do it than if they think they cannot for some reason, whether that be

ability or knowledge or cultural perceptions. As far as going beyond that self concept of

capability, she explained, students need to feel comfortable and safe, like they will not be made

to feel stupid. At that point it comes down to what kind of relationship exists between students

and teacher. She says this is the most important motivator for students. She also explained that

boys and girls respond differently to and desire different things out of a relationship with their

teacher.

Similarly to my robotics mentor, this educator claimed some natural, actual difference

between boys and girls. She said there may be a creational difference here, and stated that
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 13
research will tell you that generally boys tend to be more motivated by competition, whereas

girls are more inclined to cooperation. Because of this, she sees an advantage when students are

separated, because educators can take advantage of intrinsic gender differences to motivate

students. She did point out, however, that the difference in interest in STEM for courses in high

school and careers is probably rooted in culture more than we know and want to believe. The

mindset that boys are better than girls at STEM affects how students view what they can do and

how teachers approach students. Self perception and teacher perception play a huge role in how

teachers work with students. Part of why that culture came about may be that STEM careers are

more competitive in nature, so girls have not participated as much. But a large part of it is that

the culture creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way: female elementary teachers bought into

that cultural view so they are less confident and enthusiastic about teaching STEM, and because

girls relate to their female teachers, by the time they get to high school they not only identify

with a stereotype but they did not get excited about STEM in an earlier period of education

because their teacher was not as passionate about it. The opposite works as well: in one private

Christian high school she mentioned, the highest level of teachers are female, and this does

impact female student enrollment in AP classes. She pointed out that it is good for girls to have

female role models in STEM, but that boys need to still have male role models in these areas if

we want to maintain their interest.

V. Analysis

It became increasingly evident how important the instructor/student relationship is to

student motivation as I reflected on these two interviews. In the case of the FIRST mentors and

coaches, the engineering coaches, though mostly males, share their passion for STEM and teach

many skills to the students which should help them in pursuing a STEM degree at college. I
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 14
know the biggest motivator for me when I was involved in the program was the support of the

coaches: even though I came on without experience or boldness, they continued to encourage me

in what I did well and pushed me by giving me more responsibilities and opportunities. In the

case of schools, whether the teacher is male or female, their relationship needs to serve the

particular students needs, whether it be competition or cooperation. Students need to feel safe

and secure in their self-perceptions and need to be encouraged to stretch themselves because

their teacher is passionate and confident in the content. Although various factors like previous

interest, cultural perceptions, parental interests and careers, and level of involvement make the

task complex, it is still possible to form a motivating relationship with students.

VI. Conclusion

What I have concluded from this research is that the process of motivating students is

continuously developing over time, and is different for each student. Motivational factors

throughout a students education are both internal and external for both boys and girls. The

internal aspect, self-concept, is shaped by external factors and performance, and from there it

shapes the assumptions from which students respond to future feedback. This self concept affects

cognitive strategies as well: boys are more confident and are motivated by competition while

girls are less confident and feel more safe to work in a cooperative setting. For both boys and

girls, interest in STEM is motivated by external factors, especially peer groups. But the role of

the teacher/mentor is the most powerful for motivating students. Teachers who believe they have

gifted students will work differently with them, and their students will succeed, and they have the

most control over the learning environment to make it a place of cooperation or competition

where students feel safe to push outside their perceived and realistic abilities. In STEM, both

boys and girls are affected by the stereotypes and history of the field, so that both benefit from
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 15
role models and early experience like FIRST programs to be motivated where they were not

already.
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 16
References

Crosnoe, R., Riegle-Crumb, C., & Muller, C. (2007). Gender, Self-Perception, and Academic

Problems in High School. Social Problems, 54(1), 118-138.

Eccles, J. S., Roeser, R., Wigfield, A., & Freedman-Doan, C. (1999). Academic and

motivational pathways through middle childhood.

In Balter, L. & Tamis-LeMonda, C. (Eds.) Child Psychology: A Handbook of

Contemporary Issues. New York, NY: Garland.

Pintrich, P. R. & De Groot, E. (1990). Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Components

of Classroom Academic Performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 33-

40.

Robnett, R. D. & Leaper, C. (2012). Friendship Groups, Personal Motivation, and Gender in

Relation to High School Students STEM Career Interest. Journal of Research on

Adolescence, 23(4), 652-664.

Salto, L. M., Riggs, M. L., Delgado De Leon, D., Casiano, C. A., & De Leon, M. (2014).

Underrepresented Minority High School and College Students Reports STEM-

Pipeline Sustaining Gains After Participating in the Loma Linda University Summer

Health Disparities Research Program. PLos ONE 9(9): e108497.

doi:10.1271/journal.pone.0108497

Yun Dai, D. (2001). The Self in Cultural Context: Meaning and Value.

In McInerney, D. M. &Van Etten, S. (Eds.) Research on Sociocultural Influences on

Motivation and Learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Appendix

Interview Questions for experienced educator:

 Gender Differentiated Motivation 17
Interview conducted April 3, 2015

1. How do you approach students to motivate them? Do you find any overarching difference in how

you must approach girls versus boys?

2. How much of that is rooted in different cultures?
3. How progressive and counter-cultural should we then be?
4. How can you tell (if you can tell) that a student is or is not motivated?
5. Does curriculum/teaching style affect how highly and non-motivated students work? If so, how?
6. If you do, how do you combat negative self assessment in students? (students who believe

themselves to be unable or are unwilling to do well)

7. Among your private high school students, have you seen any significant gender differentiated

trends in motivation for STEM related courses? (including choosing to take higher level courses)

Interview questions with high school STEM program mentor

Interview conducted April 14, 2015

1. How do roles on the team tend to divide up among students of different genders?
2. Have you observed low-motivated students (male or female) increase in interest or motivation in

a career in STEM as a result of involvement in the program?

3. (2.1) Do mentors actively focus on students with lower motivation to try to increase their

motivation? If so, how?

4. What kinds of roles do female mentors take on the team? (are there any female engineering

mentors?)
5. Of the female students who go on to careers/education in STEM, how have you observed their

level of involvement in engineering/design aspects of team activities?

6. (4.1) Of those same students, which have tended to have parents in some STEM career?
7. How do mentors select and try to motivate students to be team leaders? What tactics do you use?
8. Is there any marketing in place for getting new students? If so, how does it reach students of

different genders?
9. (8.1) Does marketing tend to target students who have potential to be highly motivated in STEM

already? If not, what tactics does the team use to draw in students of varying levels of

motivation?
10. Does the team/organization as a whole strive to direct all students involved in the program

toward pursuing STEM related careers? (alternatively, it may be satisfied with getting students
 Gender Differentiated Motivation 18
involved at least short term and giving them opportunities to learn other skills from the program)

If so, how do mentors view motivation as a part of that?