Abstracts - Earli

effectiveness of their choices. The findings provide practical guidelines for making on-demandeducation more informative and hence more effective.G 2230 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 0.100DSymposiumMotivation in context. Theoretical and methodological challengesChair: Marold Wosnitza, University of Science and Technology, Aachen, GermanyChair: Doris Lewalter, TU Munich, GermanyOrganiser: Doris Lewalter, TU Munich, GermanyOrganiser: Marold Wosnitza, University of Science and Technology, Aachen, GermanyDiscussant: Peter Nenniger, University Koblenz-Landau, RWTH Aachen, GermanyThis symposium provides a platform for discussing some of the latest theoretical andmethodological developments in the field of motivation research in learning contexts. To meet thisaim, the presenters in this symposium describe research projects concerning a broad variety offormal and informal learning contexts and their influence on diverse motivational variables byusing a broad set of methodological approaches. Marold Wosnitza (University of Science andTechnology, Aachen) and Simone Volet (Murdoch University, Australia) focus on the questionhow group learning activities influence personal goals of university students in such settings.Susan Nolen, Christopher J. Ward and Ilana S. Horn (University of Washington, USA) concentrateon how students’ goals becoming teachers arise and are modified through negotiation in socialcontexts. Peter Op‘t Eynde, Eric De Corte and Lieven Verschaffel (University of Leuven,Belgium), focus on the influence of the classroom context, especially classroom norms andpractices with regard to mathematics, on the students’ subject-related and motivational beliefs.Doris Lewalter and Claudia Geyer (TU Munich, Germany) investigate the impact of theorganization and arrangement of science center and museum-visits in addition to scienceclassroomeducation on students’ self-determined motivation and situational interest. DiscussantNenniger (University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany) will share his perspectives on these emergingideas and methodological approaches.A framework for personal goals in social learning contextsMarold Wosnitza, University of Science and Technology, Aachen, GermanySimone Volet, Murdoch University, AustraliaOver the last decades, the construct of goal has been central in research on motivation in learningcontexts. Whether conceptualised within a goal orientation perspective or from a personal contentgoal perspective, and whether elicited through metacognitive reflection or inferred fromobservations, individual goals are assumed to play a major role in engagement, learning andachievement. Yet, the growing shift in educational psychology research towardsconceptualisations of learning and motivation as situated, social and dynamic has highlightedmajor limitations in conceptualising goals as relatively stable and as dominantly focused on thepursuit of achievement. The aim of the presentation is to present the development of a frameworkfor personal goals in social learning contexts. The framework attempts to capture the construct of– 421 –