Motivation and beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge within an immersive virtual ecosystems environment Jason A. Chen a,⇑ , Shari J. Metcalf b , M. Shane Tutwiler b a The College of William and Mary, 301 Monticello Ave., P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, United States b Harvard University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States article info Article history: Available online 4 March 2014 Keywords: Technology Science education Self-efficacy Science identity Epistemic beliefs Implicit theories abstract We explored Grade 6 students’ (n = 202) self-efficacy, epistemic beliefs, and science interest over a 10-day virtual ecology curriculum. Pre- and post-surveys were administered, and analyses revealed that (1) students became more self-efficacious about inquiring scientifically after participating in the activity; (2) students on average evinced a shift toward more constructivist views about the role of authority in justifying scientific claims; (3) students who identified more strongly with being a science person evinced greater gains in self-efficacy, developed a less constructivist view about the role of authority in justifying claims, and became more interested in science overall; and (4) students who held an incremental theory of ability evinced greater gains in self-efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings for science educators and instructional designers in the design and use of immersive virtual worlds for middle school science students. Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc. 1. Introduction Much research has shown that science is often considered more confusing and more difficult than other academic subjects (Britner, 2007; Cleaves, 2005; Dweck, 2007; National Academies of Science, 2011). Furthermore, in the context of the current educational climate in which such a high premium is put on students’ perfor- mance on standardized tests, teachers have little time to allow their students to explore science concepts in interesting ways, thereby contributing to students’ perception of science as dull. This struggle to motivate students presents a significant challenge espe- cially during the middle school and high school years, when there is a marked general decline in motivation (Eccles et al., 1983). In addition to motivating students to do well in science, another major goal of science reform is to advance students’ beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge and knowing (National Academy of Sciences, 2011; National Research Council, 2000; National Research Council, 2007). The more recent work on these beliefs, called epistemic beliefs, has examined relations between the construct and other facets of cognition like motivation and self- regulation (Buehl & Alexander, 2005; Muis, 2004; Tsai, Ho, Liang, & Lin, 2011). Less attention, however, has been directed toward how epistemic beliefs change over short periods of time, especially with instructional interventions designed to tap students’ epistemic beliefs. Finally, innovative technologies have been receiving a consider- able amount of attention as a way to motivate students, and to pro- vide students with science inquiry experiences that both make learning interesting and provide life-like simulations of what real scientists do. However, despite the widely accepted notion that technology-based activities are inherently motivating, the evi- dence regarding their motivational effectiveness is mixed (Moos & Marroquin, 2010). For example, as Moos and Marroquin noted, some research has shown that computer-based instruction in- creased students’ interest in the material. But other research has shown that there are a number of variables, such as prior knowl- edge, that modify the relationship between participation in technology-based activities and students’ motivation. Another reason for these mixed findings could be the way that many researchers exploring educational technologies have concep- tualized motivation—as a broad unidimensional construct. How- ever, motivation is multifaceted in that some students may find an activity to be very interesting and enjoyable (i.e., high interest value beliefs) but not consider themselves competent enough to do well (i.e., lack self-efficacy). In fact, even in a recent meta- analysis, Wouters et al. (2013) adopted a broad view of motivation, yet reported findings on the overall construct of motivation without discussing which aspects of motivation seemed to be http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2014.02.004 0361-476X/Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: The College of William and Mary, 301 Monticello Avenue, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795 United States. Fax: +1 (757) 221 2988. E-mail address: jachen@email.wm.edu (J.A. Chen). Contemporary Educational Psychology 39 (2014) 112–123 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Contemporary Educational Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych