Motivation and Engagement in Young Learners: An Action Research Project

This research study of goal-setting with early intermediate students was conducted to determine whether teaching goal-setting skills and strategies would enhance student success in specific curricular assignments. An available curriculum, the BC Life Skills program, was used to teach strategies that were then applied to subject area projects in Science and Language Arts. Findings indicate that with explicit instruction in vocabulary and processes before being asked to apply skills to assigned tasks resulted in success for most students. This research supports the idea that having competency in goal-setting can contribute to quality completion of work in young learners. (Contains 4 figures.)