Goal orientation and changes of carelessness over consecutive trials in science inquiry

In this paper, we studied the relationship between goal orientation within a science inquiry learning environment for middle school students, and the manifestation of carelessness over consecutive trials. Carelessness is defined as not demonstrating a skill despite knowing it; we measured carelessness using a machine learned model. Findings suggest that students with performance goals demonstrate an increase in carelessness sooner in the set of trials than do students with learning goals, and that students with lack of goals are consistent with their carelessness over trials.