Title
Internalization and externalization in the classroom: How do they emerge and why is it important?
Abstract
Work-in-Progress. "I felt so dumb, and it's not fair that I cannot grasp this information to save my life, and other people can with no problem." Why do some students feel empowered in the classroom, and feel they have control over their own learning, while others do not? Our qualitative investigation is a part of a larger mixed-methods study about students' situational motivations in introductory STEM courses. We used grounded theory to analyze students' responses to surveys about emotion, course relevance, and motivation. We investigated two emergent phenomena we called "internalization" and "externalization." Our definitions of these are based on a student's perception of who or what influences the outcomes of their activities: the students themselves, or external factors such as the instructor, peers, or the educational system as a whole. Our findings indicate that (1) internalization correlates with cognitive autonomy, students' perception of course content having high personal relevance, and group projects in project based learning environments; and (2) externalization correlates with lecture-based environments and students' perceptions of lack of personal relevance in the course content. Our analyses suggest that project-based learning environments may serve to empower students, but only when course content is found to be relevant.
Year
Venue
Keywords
2016
Frontiers in Education Conference
motivation,internalization,emotion,autonomy,empowerment,relevance,project-based learning
Field
DocType
ISSN
Grounded theory,Sociology,Autonomy,Knowledge management,Externalization,Educational systems,Situational ethics,Pedagogy,Mathematics education,Cognition,Perception,Internalization
Conference
0190-5848
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Pinar Demetci100.34
Caz Nichols200.34
Yevgeniya V. Zastavker326.52
Jonathan Stolk426.78
Dillon, A.501.69
Michael D. Gross601.69