Project Activities
The research team will conduct six experiments with students in third, sixth, and ninth grade to explore the effects of extra opportunities for success within challenging math experiences, and to identify the optimal ways of experiencing success in this context. The first five experiments are designed to take place in a single session. In the final experiment, students participate in five sessions over four months to investigate the effects of remembered success over time.
Structured Abstract
Setting
Participating schools are in diverse urban or suburban districts in New Jersey.
Sample
Each year, approximately 2100 third, sixth, and ninth grade students from 3 school districts (about 700 per grade) will participate in the research.
This project identifies factors that lead a student to remember a math experience as successful.
Research design and methods
The research team will conduct six experiments over four years. In each experiment, students will complete lists of math problems followed by a set of ratings and surveys about their experiences. The lists are designed to provide extra opportunities for success or not, and in some studies, lists vary by length or number of easy versus difficult problems, depending on the research question. The team will use both within-subjects and between-subjects studies. In the within-subjects studies, students will complete multiple lists that vary along the dimension being studied. In the between-subjects studies, students will be randomly assigned to complete one type of list only. The first five experiments take place in a single session. In the final experiment, students participate in five sessions over approximately four months to investigate remembered success over a longer period.
Control condition
The control condition involves completing a set of difficult math problems without added opportunities for success.
Key measures
Key measures include researcher-developed math tests, expectancy-value ratings, and surveys of students' task preferences, future task choices, and problem-solving time.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will use generalized linear mixed models and will account for the nesting of students in participating classrooms.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Researchers will identify factors of the math experience that lead students to remember being successful, and they will also provide evidence of relationships between extra opportunities for success and education outcomes. They will also produce peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
Publications:
Finn, B. (2020). Exploring interactions between motivation and cognition to better shape self-regulated learning. Journal of Applied research in Memory and Cognition, 9(4), 461-467.
Finn, B., & Miele, D. B. (2021). Boundary conditions of the remembered success effect. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 10(4), 621-641.
Finn, B., Miele, D. B., & Wigfield, A. (2024). Investigating the remembered success effect with elementary and middle school students. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Finn, B., Miele, D.B., & Wigfield, A. (2023). The impact of remembered success experiences on expectancies, values, and perceived costs. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 72, 102143.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
