Perceived need-supportive biology course climate, learning engagement, and continuing biology learning intention: a cross-sectional SEM study of Chinese university students

Vollständiger Abstract

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Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined how Chinese university students’ perceived need-supportive biology course climate was associated with basic psychological needs, biology learning self-efficacy, science identity, biology learning engagement, and continuing biology learning intention. A total of 624 students from five anonymized Chinese higher education institutions completed an anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, bootstrapped indirect-association analysis with 5,000 resamples, and multi-group SEM were conducted. The preferred correlated first-order measurement model yielded χ 2 = 2,193.75, df = 1,139, CFI = 0.941, TLI = 0.934, RMSEA = 0.039, and SRMR = 0.045. The structural model yielded χ 2 = 2,354.62, df = 1,166, CFI = 0.935, TLI = 0.929, RMSEA = 0.040, and SRMR = 0.048. Thus, CFI and TLI remained below the more stringent 0.95 reference value, whereas RMSEA and SRMR indicated comparatively favorable fit. Perceived need-supportive course climate was positively associated with basic psychological needs, β = 0.553, p < 0.001. Basic psychological needs were positively associated with biology learning self-efficacy, β = 0.310, p < 0.001, science identity, β = 0.286, p < 0.001, and learning engagement, β = 0.274, p < 0.001. Learning engagement was positively associated with continuing biology learning intention, β = 0.248, p < 0.001. The direct association between perceived course climate and continuing intention was not statistically clear, β = 0.047, p = 0.243, whereas several bootstrapped indirect associations were supported. Multi-group analyses showed only small changes in CFI and RMSEA across increasingly constrained models, supporting cautious comparison across the participating groups. Overall, the findings provide cross-sectional evidence that perceived biology course climate is associated with continuing biology learning intention through several motivational and engagement-related pathways. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to examine the temporal and causal ordering of these associations.