"Teachers Caring for Students and Students Caring for Math: The Development of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents' Math Motivation"

Alumnus Osman Umarji (Ph.D. ’19) is lead author of an article in the Journal of School Psychology analyzing the impact of student perceptions of teacher caring on student math motivation. The title of the article is “Teachers Caring for Students and Students Caring for Math: The Development of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents' Math Motivation.”
 
Co-authors are Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke, Project Scientist Nayssan Safavian, Professor Stuart Karabenick (University of Michigan), and Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne S. Eccles.
 
Umarji is Director of Survey Research and Evaluation and Senior Fellow at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and an adjunct professor at UCI. His research interests include the development of human motivation, religious socialization, spirituality, and Islamic legal theory. While a doctoral student, Umarji specialized in Learning, Teaching, Cognition, and Development. In addition to studying the dynamic nature of motivation, including the role of values, goal setting, and self-regulation on behavior, he also explored positive psychology, particularly in the development of character strengths and moral beliefs. Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles served as his advisor.

​Abstract
 
This study utilized growth curves and change models to understand the impact of student perceptions of teacher caring on the development of math motivation for an ethnically and linguistically diverse sample of adolescents in middle school (N = 1926) and high school (N = 1531). Using an expectancy-value framework, growth curves revealed declining math motivation for both middle school and high school cohorts. However, perceived teacher caring buffered against these declines and was positively associated with math self-efficacy and subjective task values. Change models revealed that perceived teacher caring at the beginning of the school year increased math motivation by the end of the year. The results shed light on the important role that student-teacher relationships play in influencing math motivation during adolescence.