SCIENCE MOTIVATION OF GRADE 7 STUDENTS

Abstract

     This descriptive study was conducted to determine the science motivation of the Grade 7 students of Desiderio C. Gange National High School , Liningwan, Maabay, Sibunag, Guimaras for the School Year 2018-2019.

     Respondents were the 190 Grade 7 students of Desiderio C. Gange National High School. The instrument used was the Science Motivation (educational videos, independent research using technology, and science apps) to determine the science motivation among the Grade 7 students. The descriptive statistical tools used were mean and standard deviation. 

     The study shows that the science motivation of Grade 7 students was high with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation highly contributed to over-all motivation. In order to test relative effectiveness of this study, the choice of most suitable design for this study was the basic step. Keeping in view the various factors affecting the internal and external validity of this study, pre-test post-test equivalent group design was considered a suitable research design for this study.

                              Chapter I

Introduction

Background of the Study

     Motivation to learn is “a student tendency to find academic activities meaningful and worthwhile and to try to derive the intended academic benefits from them” (Glynn ,et. al., 2006).

     A student who is highly motivated to learn enjoys learning and learns much more than the student who is not as motivated. The learner persists and perseveres in studies even when things turn out to be difficult. They do not give up easily. As a result their performance is satisfactory (Lucas, et. al., 2011).

     Motivation in children predicts motivation later in life, and the stability of this relationship strengthens with age (Lai, 2012). Elementary motivation is different from high school, as well as high school from college. College environments are more flexibly structured than those in high school. As a result, college students often experience initial difficulties in motivating themselves to pursue learning goals. Members of the higher education community wish to create general education programs that support the motivation of students and help them engage in the learning process

(Glynn, et. al., 2005). Motivation within individuals tends to vary across subject areas, and this domain specificity increases with age. In science, research evidence shows that students’ motivation to learn science has a significant influence on student’s science competencies development (Devetak, et. al., 2014).

     Thus, this study was conducted to determine the level of motivation of students towards science especially in secondary to give teachers the idea of how well the students are motivated that will help assess the effectiveness of the teaching styles and techniques. Furthermore, it will serve as basis in improving the teaching styles and integrate more effective techniques that will increase the students’ motivation and performance.

Statement of the Problem

     This study aimed to determine the level of science motivation of Grade 7 students of Desiderio C. Gange National High School in the School Year 2018-2019.

It sought to answer these questions:

1. What is the Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of Grade 7 students in the pretest of the whole quarter?

2. What is the Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of Grade 7 students in the posttest of the whole quarter?

3. Is there an increase of Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of Grade 7 students after administering different science motivation?

Significance of the Study

     This study sought to determine the level of science motivation of Grade 7 students of Desiderio C. Gange National High School, Liningwan, Maabay, Sibunag, Guimaras.

The outcome of this study would be beneficial to the following:

Science Faculty

     The result would help them implement more effective strategies and techniques, and enhance their teaching styles so as to improve the motivation of Grade 7 students.

Students

     This study would help them to be aware of the level of their science motivation that would serve as their basis on the improvement of their academic standing in science subjects.

Administrator

     The outcome of this study would encourage them to give more beneficial information for the improvement of the performance of science faculty members in terms of motivating their students in science subjects.

Parents

     The results of this study would help them be aware of their children’s level of science motivation and be a basis for their guidance.

Other Researchers

     The result of this study would serve as baseline to conduct related researches on the level of science motivation of incoming Grade 7 students. This could also serve as a reference for other researchers in conducting studies related to motivation.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

     This study was conducted to determine the level of science motivation among Grade 7 students of Desiderio C. Gange National High School, Liningwan, Maabay, Sibunag, Guimaras during the whole quarter of the School Year 2018-2019. Respondents were chosen among the Grade 7 students.

     Moreover, this descriptive study focused on Grade 7 students as the independent variable and level of science motivation as the dependent variable. Slovin’s formula was used to identify the number of samples and percentage allocation was computed from the population of each section. Samples were chosen using Lottery method of random sampling. To describe the data, mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive analysis 

Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND RELATED STUDIES

     This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies. The review of related literature is composed of the importance and implication of motivation and the factors affecting it in education. The related studies consist of studies pertaining to student’s motivation and how can it affect learning.

Related Literature

Motivation

     The whole education system comprises of building, books, materials as well as objectives. Methods we used to achieve these objectives. But actually this system has two integral personalities and they are the teacher and the students. But now the philosophers like John Dewey, Rousseau and Pestalozzi gave the centre position to the students. So, it is necessary to understand those factors which abolish or nourish the child’s achievement. As a gardener must know or should have sought to know which soil is more suitable to the plant and when and how much water should be required by plant. Similarly a teacher must know how a child learn, how the factors like motivation or readiness facilitates the teaching process (Rehman et al., 2013).   

Academic achievement is greatly affected by the student’s interest and drive upon the subject they are taking. Those who have higher interest about the subject tend to excel more than those who are uninterested. This interest is commonly called as motivation. According to Lia (2011), motivation refers to reasons that underlie behaviour that is characterized by willingness and volition. Motivation involves a constellation of beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and actions that are all closely related. As a result, various approaches to motivation can focus on cognitive behaviours (such as monitoring and strategy use), non-cognitive aspects (such as perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes), or both.

     Impact of motivation on learning of students in education is important. Without motivation learning is not possible. Due to motivation students do any task and achieve the goal. Motivation increase speed of work and a person is doing everything to achieve goal. Motivation increases the performance of learning. It provides energy and learner achieves the task because she has a direction and performance of learner is increased (Rehman, 2005).

     There are two kinds of motivation extrinsic and intrinsic motivation:

1. Extrinsic Motivation comes as a result of an external reward from someone else. Examples of extrinsic rewards are certificate, bonuses, money, praise and recognition (Fralick, 2012).

2. Intrinsic Motivation comes from within. It means that you do an activity because you enjoy it or find something personal in it. With intrinsic motivation, the nature of the activity itself or the consequences of the activity motivate you (Fralik, 2012).

     Learners are more likely to show the beneficial effects of motivation when they are intrinsically motivated to engage in classroom activities. Intrinsically motivated learners tackle assigned task willingly and are eager to learn classroom material, more likely to process information in effective way and more likely to achieve at high levels than those who are externally motivated (www.education.com 07/30/15).

Motivation has several effects on students’ learning and behaviour:

1. Motivation directs behaviour toward particular goals.

2. Motivation leads to increased effort and energy.

3. Motivation increases initiation of and persistence in activities.

4. Motivation affects cognitive processes.

5. Motivation determines which consequences are reinforcing and punishing.

6. Motivation often enhances performance.

(www.education.com 07/30/15)

Related studies

     A motivational science perspective on student motivation in learning and teaching contexts is developed that highlights 3 general themes for motivational research. The 3 themes include the importance of a general scientific approach for research on student motivation, the utility of multidisciplinary perspective, and the importance of use-inspired basic research on motivation. The importance of student motivation has varied from peripheral to central to central in psychological and educational research over the years. Currently, research on student motivation seems to be central to research in learning and teaching contexts (www.studentmotivation.com 07/15/2015)  

     Studies have been conducted to know the relationship and factors underlying motivation. These help teachers and administrators provide strategic planning and technique that will improve their learner’s motivation.

     Study shows that, the correlation was strongest between motivations. Interviews revealed parents and teachers had the most influence on students' perception of science. In understanding the correlation between female students’ motivation, achievement, and self-esteem, schools will gain further knowledge into how students relate to the academic field of science and can thus promote females' participation in more science courses in high school. This then will provide females the necessary background knowledge to pursue a greater number of science majors in college (Henman, 2010).

     Among the top reasons for studying among all students were grades and upcoming exams. Seventy-eight percent of all students also claimed to study most when the subject is “interesting and practical” The need to “prove something to myself” was cited as a motivation to study by 68% of the population, and this percent rose to 87% when the accelerated adult students were isolated. Learning for its own sake was the third ranked reason for studying among the adult population, but came in eighth for the traditional students. The top reason cited for not studying was work and family obligations; 37% of all students claimed that obligations took away from study time. Not surprisingly, the accelerated adult learner felt this pressure more than the traditional 18- 21 year old student. The second greatest reason for not studying, I’d rather go out or hang out with my friends, was ranked strongly agree or agree by 31% of the traditional students, but (again, not surprisingly) only 9% of the adult learners. Fear of letting down family ranked much higher as a motivator for traditional students than accelerated students, while the desire to learn ranked higher for the adult population than the traditional one. These results are logical and were expected given the different stages of life of the members of the two groups (Castiglia, 2006).

     According to Hardre et al. (2006), teachers who want to enhance students’ motivation might see benefits from focusing on learning goals and self-determination. Instead of focusing on performance goals (tests, grades), they could provide a supportive classroom environment by paying more attention to their interpersonal communication with students, offering choices and supporting and encouraging students to pursue their interests whenever possible. The findings on interpersonal style indicate that most students place a lot of importance on their individual interactions with teachers. At the same time, teachers should also be attentive to the peer elements of the environment. An important part of the peer support environment is the difference between competition and cooperation. Teachers can enhance peer support by reducing competition between students, and by valuing and emphasising collaboration and cooperation within the peer group.

     It was found that mastery, performance, and extrinsic were positively related to academic achievement. Social and extrinsic goals were positively related to affect to school. In general, the results supported the cross-cultural validity of the hierarchical and multidimensional model of student motivation in a non-Western context. This study highlights the importance of testing the validity of Western-oriented theories of achievement motivation before they are applied in non-Western settings (King et al, 2012).

     A theoretical model of non-science majors’ motivation to learn science was tested by surveying 369 students in a large-enrolment college science course that satisfies a core curriculum requirement. Based on a social-cognitive framework, motivation to learn science was conceptualized as having both cognitive and affective influences that foster science achievement. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships among the variables. The students’ motivation, as measured by the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ), had a strong direct influence on their achievement, as measured by their science grade point average. The students’ motivation was influenced by their belief in the relevance of science to their careers. This belief was slightly stronger in women than men. Essays by the students and interviews with them provided insight into their motivation. The model suggests that instructors should strategically connect science concepts to the careers of non-science majors through such means as case studies to increase motivation and achievement (Glynn et.al, 2006).

                              Chapter III

Theoretical Framework

     This study was anchored on The Expectancy-Value theory by Allan Wigfield (2000) which states that individual’s choice, persistence, and performance can be explained by his/her beliefs about how well he/she will do on the activity and the extent to which he/she value the activity.

     Expectancy-value theory has been one of the most important views on the nature of achievement motivation, beginning with Atkinson's (1957). To characterize the theory very broadly, theorists adopting this perspective posit that individuals' expectancies for success and the value they have for succeeding are important determinants of their motivation to perform different achievement tasks (Wigfield, 1994).

Conceptual Framework

     In this study, the conceptual framework shows the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The Grade 7 students: Ivory, Rose, Dahlia, Hyacinth, and, serves as the independent variable while the level of science motivation serves as the dependent variable. The paradigm below shows the relationship of the variables.

Paradigm of the Study

 

Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study

Chapter IV

Conclusions and Recommendation

     This chapter presents the conclusion and recommendations.

Conclusions

1. The motivation of the Grade 7 students is greatly affected by their extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

2. Other factors affecting motivation such as self-efficacy, self-determination, personal relevance and low anxiety assessment also contributed to the high level motivation of Grade 7 students. 

Recommendations

1. Science faculty members are encouraged to develop their styles and techniques in teaching science in order to sustain the motivation of Grade 7 students.

2. Students should be aware of the level of their science motivation for them to develop techniques and strategies in improving it.

3. Parents should cooperate in the academic performance of their child and to have daily monitoring on the sustainability of child’s interest in school.

4. Parallel study with other courses should be conducted to determine the significant difference with the motivation of Grade 7 students.

5. Follow up study about this topic should be conducted to monitor the motivation of the Grade 7 students, if any changes will occur.