Affective and conative factors as aptitude resources in high school science achievement

This article examines the role of affect and conation in high school students' science test performance. It provides a profile of partial correlations of standardized multiple-choice and constructed response test scores with affect and conation scores (after accounting for general ability and student background) at 3 distinct levels of generality: domain-specific, task-general, and situation-specific. Results show differential patterns of correlations, varying with level of generality of affective and conative constructs, and with different aspects of science achievement represented by the dimensions of basic knowledge and reasoning, quantitative science reasoning, and spatial-mechanical reasoning. The discussion invokes several theoretical frameworks to interpret these results. The article concludes by stressing the need for empirical and theoretical integration in the study of academic task performance.