Relation between Teacher Autonomy Support, Student Self-Efficacy, and Behavioral Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Model in Project-Based Team Learning

Team learning is a widely used teaching approach within the realm of engineering pedagogy. However, there hasn't been much discussion of the teacher's function as a designer of the learning environment, particularly in terms of promoting student engagement in team-based learning. To fill this gap, this study creates a self-determination theory-based model of how teaching strategies and task types affect students' behavior engagement in team learning conditions. An empirical study of 255 questionnaires from Chinese students majoring in Engineering Management and Engineering Cost was conducted. The findings showed a beneficial association between teacher autonomy support and student behavioral engagement, with self-efficacy serving as a partial mediating factor. Additionally, the study demonstrated that exploratory learning significantly moderated the link among teacher autonomy support and student self-efficacy. This investigation broadens the study context to team-based learning, combining teachers and students to build an effective bridge between teaching and learning. Furthermore, the study underscores the significance of matching teaching styles with task characteristics in project-based team learning, providing valuable insights for addressing undesirable behaviors like free-riding.