The Role of Motivating Tasks and Personal Goal Orientations in Students' Coping Strategies in Science

This study aims to investigate coping strategies of middle school students in science classes in relation to students' goal orientations and motivating tasks conducted in the classroom environment. The study was conducted in spring semester of 2015-2016 academic year. Sample of the study consists of 316 middle school students receiving education in Erzurum province of Turkey. The study utilizes a quantitative research methodology and it is nonexperimental. Examining the relationships among variables, it is a correlational research. Hierarchical regression is used in order to analyze how motivating classroom environment perception and personal goal orientation of students predict their academic coping strategies. The data were collected using four instruments: Demographic Information Questionnaire, Academic Coping Inventory, Achievement Goal Questionnaire, and Survey of Classroom Goals Structures. Results show that a higher perception of motivating tasks provided in the classroom environment is positively related to positive coping strategies and negatively related to projective coping strategies. Students with higher mastery-approach goal orientation tend to utilize more positive coping strategy and less projective coping strategy and non-coping strategy. It is found that mastery-avoidance goal orientation is negatively associated with positive coping strategy and positively associated with projective coping and non-coping strategies. Moreover, it is seen that students with higher performance-avoidance goal orientation have a higher tendency to use positive coping strategy.