Presentation in FERA 2012 Helsinki

1. Characteristics of young children’s
self-efficacy and confidence in
early education classrooms
Elina Määttä & Sanna Järvelä
Learning and Educational Technology Research Unit
University of Oulu, Finland
elina.maatta@oulu.fi
FERA Conference, Helsinki 22.11.2012

2. Background
• Self-efficacy refers to learners’ beliefs in their ability to
perform effectively and to succeed in a specific situation
(Bandura, 1982, 1997; Zimmerman, 2000 Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2005).
• It this study, it is seen as the confidence that young
children have in their capability to do the things that they
are trying to do in specific learning situations (Pajares, 2003).
• This kind of confidence requires the use of self-
regulatory procedures that serve as mediators between
personal views (e.g., beliefs about success), behaviors
(e.g., engaging in a task), contextual characteristics
(e.g., teacher feedback and support), and actual learning
outcomes (e.g., achievements) (Pintrich, 2004).

3. Background
• Self-efficacy refers to learners’ beliefs in their ability to
perform effectively and to succeed in a specific situation
(Bandura, 1982, 1997; Zimmerman, 2000 Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2005).
• It this study, it is seen as the confidence that young
children have in their capability to do the things that they
are trying to do in specific learning situations (Pajares, 2003).
• This kind of confidence requires the use of self-
regulatory procedures that serve as mediators between
personal views (e.g., beliefs about success), behaviors
(e.g., engaging in a task), contextual characteristics
(e.g., teacher feedback and support), and actual learning
outcomes (e.g., achievements) (Pintrich, 2004).

4. Defining the specific learning situation
• The perceptions of the learning context influence learners’ beliefs
about themselves and their confidence. In turn, these beliefs and
confidence influence the nature and extent of their engagement with
learning tasks and situations (Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan, 2007).
• Efficacious interaction refers to individual, child-centered activity
that is operationalized by active participation and productive on-task
working in different solo and collaborative learning situations (Määttä,
Järvenoja, & Järvelä, 2012).
– ENGAGEMENT referring to a child’s active participation and
productive on-task working
– ACHIEVEMENT referring to an actual learning outcome, such as
mastering a task
– BEHAVIOR referring to actions and positive utterances toward
learning activities during the situation

5. Why we need this study?
• Teachers tend to reflect on young children’s actions—
success and failure—from their own perspective,
forgetting that children themselves might attribute their
success or failure to entirely different factors.
• After all, it is primarily the children’s own experiences of
success or failure that guide their actions through
different classroom situations and further build their self-
efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1994, 1997).
• There is a need for studies that
– reach children’s immediate learning experiences in
real time.
– investigate the factors supporting young children’s
learning and confidence.

6. Research questions
1. What characterizes efficacious interaction
situations in classrooms where young children
are perceived to be confident?
2. How do young children explain their experiences
of confidence and success in efficacious
interaction situations?
3. Is there a relation between efficacious
interaction, confidence, and success?

7. Research design
N=24 16 hours of stimulated recall
6-8 years old (M=7.375) interviews
(n=57, approx. 2 interviews/child, 20
elementary school students minutes on average/class)
– What happened in the situation?
32 hours of video observations – What did you do in the situation
described in the video clip?
(40 minutes on average/class)
– What happened before this
– Whole group discussions situation?
– Small group activities – What happened after this
– Individual work situation?
– How confident were you of
succeeding in the situation?
Why?
– How did you succeed in the
situation? Why?

8. Data analysis
Phase 1
Identifying
efficacious
interaction
episodes (alpha .927,
Classroo
m
Efficaciou
s
kappa
intercatio .859)
intercatio
n n

9. Data analysis
Phase 1 Phase 2
Identifying Characteristics of
efficacious efficacious
interaction situations
interaction (alpha .883, kappa .795)
episodes
Classroo
m
Efficaciou
s
intercatio
n
intercatio
n Child-task
Child-teacher-task
Child-child-task

10. Data analysis
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Identifying Characteristics of Experiences of
efficacious efficacious confidence and
interaction situations success
interaction
(alpha .979, kappa .881/
episodes
Classroo
m
Efficaciou
s Child-task alpha .927, kappa .859)
intercatio intercatio
n n
Child-teacher-task Confidence Success
Child-child-task
High Well
Moderate Poorly
Low
Task related factors
Previous experiences
Feelings and emotions
Own behavior and
actions
Feedback and support

11. Data analysis
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Identifying Characteristics of Experiences of
efficacious efficacious confidence and
interaction situations success
interaction
episodes
Classroo
m
Efficaciou
s Child-task Confidence Success
intercatio intercatio
n n
Child-teacher-task
Child-child-task High Well
Moderate Poorly
Phase 4 Low
Relations of efficacious interaction Task related factors
contexts, confidence and success Previous experiences
Feelings and emotions
Cross-tabulations with χ²-test
Own behavior and
Effect sizes for χ² with actions
Cramer’s V Feedback and support

12. Results
• Video observation data contained 434 60
classroom activity episodes, of which f=3
0
31 percent (f = 135) were efficacious
50
interaction episodes.
• Three types of interaction contexts 40
were found;
30
– child-teacher-task (C-T-T) occurred f=1
when the teacher was facilitating 5
f=1
20
the child’s task understanding either 2
individually in solo learning
10
situations or in joint learning
situations with peers
• For example, when a class was starting
0
to work with a new topic, the teacher led C-T-T C-T C-C-T
the joint discussion with questions,
instructions, and feedback.

13. – child-task (C-T) Example
occurred when a child Linda: I would like to draw eyes for the
was working with the dragon. [engagement]
notebook Anna: Not yet; I have to finish the body
• For example, when a first. And I might also want to draw those.
child was calculating Linda: Please, please let me do that!
sums in the math book.
Eeli: Could you both draw a model of the
– child-child-task (C-C-T) eye, and we could decide then which one
occurred typically in is better for the dragon?
collaborative learning Linda: Okay, I can draw this kind of eye.
situations [talks while drawing]
• For example, when Anna: That looks great. Okay, you can
children were creating a draw the eyes. But make them exactly like
story of dragons and
that.
drawing a poster out of it.
[Linda draws the eyes on the poster;
achievement]
Mari: Wow, those look really great. Well
done Linda!
Linda: Thanks! [she is smiling] I think they
look better than the ones I drew before.

14. 2. How do young children explain their experiences of
confidence and success in efficacious interaction
situations?
• Levels of
confidence, estimation
9%
of success High
Moderate
16% 37%
Low
38%
Not able
to name

15. 2. How do young children explain their experiences of
confidence and success in efficacious interaction
situations?
• Levels of
confidence, estimation
9%
of success High
Moderate
16% 37%
Low
38%
Not able to
name
7%
Succeede
d well
Succeede
93% d poorly

16. 2. How do young children explain their experiences of
confidence and success in efficacious interaction
situations?
• Levels of • Reasons for confidence
confidence, estimation and success
57
9%
of success High
Moderate
16% 37%
23
Low
38% 11
Not able to 7
name
2
7%
Succeede
d well
Succeede
93% d poorly

17. 3. Is there a relation between efficacious
interaction, confidence, and success?
• A statistically significant relation between confidence and
success (χ² = 24.338, df = 3, p = 0.000, Cramer’s V = 0.659).
• This means that when children experienced high
confidence, they also experienced succeeding well.
Children who experienced low confidence, more likely
experienced succeeding poorly.

18. Conclusions
• This study provided an opportunity for young children to
describe their learning experiences in their own words.
• The results clearly indicate that efficacious students can
be identified with this kind of child originated research
methods.
• It characterized efficacious interaction situations as
meaningful learning context for young children to
experience and identify their confidence and succeeding.
• Efficacious interaction was identified only during 9+
hours (total of 32 hours)

19. • 75 % of the children experienced high or moderate
confidence.
• 93 % of the children experienced succeeding well.
• Further analyses will focus on
1) exploring how efficacious interaction can be
supported,
2) identifying children’s self-regulatory behavior and
processes in efficacious interaction situations,
3) clarifying the relationship between efficacious
interaction and self-efficacy.

20. Thank you!
Selected references:
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy. The
exercise of
control. New York, NY: W.H Freeman &
Company.
Määttä, E., Järvenoja, H., & Järvelä, S.
(2012).
Triggers of students’ efficacious
interaction in collaborative learning
situations. Small Group
Research, 43(4), 497–522.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Self-efficacy: An
essential
motive to Elina Määttä
learn. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 25, 82-91.
elina.maatta@oulu.fi