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Education is supposed to lay the foundation for vocational maturity. However, young people lose their motivation to learn at school instead. Adequate teaching concepts to promote school motivation need to be developed, but efficient tools to evaluate them at the level of school motivation are lacking. For this purpose, we built upon the established Science Motivation measure (SMOT) by reformulating items for a general school motivation scale (SchMOT) and applying it to 281 fifth graders. Since children are active creators and not consumers of knowledge, we consider learning motivation correlated with creativity, as demonstrated by the original motivation questionnaire. A principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation confirmed the hypothetical four-factor structure: self-efficacy, self-determination, intrinsic motivation and grade motivation. Factor loadings ranged from 0.556 to 0.746; cross-loadings never exceeded 0.4. The SEM model of motivation confirmed the factor structure with self-efficacy as the strongest predictor of motivation. The correlation of motivation and creativity revealed the particular importance of self-efficacy. This study has shown its appropriateness in measuring adolescent school motivation. Results emphasised the need for self-efficacy, both as an indicator of conducive teaching and an essential pedagogical goal. Suggestions for creativity-based teaching initiatives that promote school motivation by incorporating self-efficacy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers need to adapt teaching styles to the goals of modern education. The Starwalker project has developed an approach for strengthening students' self-efficacy and has provided professional development (PD) to teachers. The present study measured the effectiveness of PD indirectly by changes in students' motivation and creativity as indicators. Two PD designs with the same time budget were examined: (1) a traditional lecture with a single feedback session; (2) repeated supervision sessions. Students completed questionnaires on school motivation, self-reported creativity and personality measures at the beginning and end of the school year. Four classes each were selected for both treatments and a control group (N = 281; Mean-Age = 10.82). At baseline, with no difference, the second PD design showed a significant increase in motivation and creativity, while the first PD design showed no differences compared to the control group. Spearman's correlations of personality with motivation and creativity confirmed the presumed role of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, while Grade Motivation and Flow were independent of personality. Structural equation modelling (SEM) confirmed the importance of creativity for motivation. The study proves that PD can be evaluated indirectly through its effects on students and confirms the Starwalker approach. Frequent brief interventions are recommended for attitude change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many current curricula, in going beyond traditional goals, increasingly foster creativity in science classrooms, declaring creativity a core skill of the 21st century. For enhancing creativity in science classrooms, the subject Arts is considered to offer a potential way from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to STEAM (STEM with Arts)). The Horizont-2020 project Creations prepared more than 100 creativity-enhancing STEAM modules based on the 5E instructional model. STEM subjects were mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry or technology, and often interdisciplinary for different school and class levels between the ages of nine and nineteen. All modules provided a social environment fostering creativity where students imagine, explore, experiment, test, manipulate, and speculate. Exemplarily, five modules including physics, math, and biology, were selected, for monitoring motivation and creativity. The first was measured on the level of career-motivation and self-efficacy, the latter focused on two sub-constructs: active cognition such as idea processing (Act), and a mental state of creative immersion (Flow). Subjects were a sample of 995 students (9–18 years). In summary, no gender impact or age effect appeared in any of the monitored variables. Participation intervened with Self-Efficacy and Act, while Career Motivation or Flow did not. Act as a cognitive variable associated with creativity might be more sensitive to changes, whereas Flow as a parameter measuring a state of mind related to emotion appears more stable. Path analysis supported the role of creativity for Career-Motivation by promoting Self-Efficacy. Conclusions for appropriate educational settings to foster STEAM environments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]