Investigating Secondary School Students' Motivation for Chemistry Class in Terms of Various Variables

• Published in: International journal of progressive education Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 498 - 512
• Main Author: Meydan, Engin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Association of Educators 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Anxiety; Chemistry; Educational Attainment; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Grade Point Average; Grief; Institutional Characteristics; Marital Status; Parent Background; Parents; Science Achievement; Science Instruction; Secondary School Students; Self Efficacy; Student Motivation; Turkey
• ISSN: 1554-5210
• DOI: 10.29329/ijpe.2021.329.31

The aim of this study is to investigate the motivation of secondary school students for chemistry class in terms of gender, class standing, school type, grade point average, average score in chemistry class, parents' marital status, parentals' bereavement, mother's educational background, and father's educational background. The survey model of the quantitative research methods was used for the purpose of the study. The data were collected with "Chemistry Lesson Motivation Scale for Secondary School Students"[sic] by Eskicioglu and Alpat (2017). The sample consists of 475 female and 399 male students, adding up to 874 students. The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS 20.0, a statistical software program. The study revealed no statistically significant difference between the sub-domains self-efficacy and extrinsic motivation but between anxiety and intrinsic motivation. Statistically significant differences were found between the students' motivation for chemistry class and school type, class standing, grade point average (GPA), average score in chemistry class, and father's graduation status. There was no statistically significant difference between parental's bereavement and mother's graduation status. No relationship was determined between anxiety and self-efficacy subdomains of the chemistry motivation scale. However, the study observed a moderate relationship between self-efficacy and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, a weak negative relationship between anxiety and intrinsic motivation, and a moderate positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.