Špoljarić, Irena.
(2014).
Motivational beliefs in natural sciences learning.
Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology.
[mentor Pavlin-Bernardić, Nina].
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine some of the motivational variables associated with natural sciencies learning, in terms of the Eccles and Wigfield (2000) expectancy-value theory. We wanted to examine the difference between students' motivational beliefs in three school subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) and three school classes, and the correlation between motivational beliefs and students' achievement for each of these subjects. We also examined correlations between motivational beliefs and the intention to persist at activities for which these school subjects are important. 195 high-school students from Varaždin participated in the study. Different aspects of motivation (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, attainment value and utility value), achievement related to subjects of interest and the intention to persist at activities related to natural sciences, were examined. The results suggest that significant differences concerning different school subjects exist in each of the motivational beliefs we tested. The most favourable set of motivational beliefs is related to biology, and the most unfavourable one concerns physics. Results of correlation analysis showed there are significant differences in the assessment of interest, while the attainment value and self-efficacy component are the least-specific for the given subject. Furthermore, data showed moderate to high correlations between different motivational beliefs, as expected. Self-efficacy and performance measures showed moderate correlations, whereas value components are correlated with an intention to persist at activities related to natural sciences.
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