EXPLORING FACTORS THAT AFFECT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' MOTIVATION TO LEARN CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS

Abstract

The pivotal role of motivation in fostering science learning has long been recognized and it is a field of active research worldwide. This research aimed at examining the effect of three different factors (used as independent variables) on shaping the motivation of undergraduate students for chemistry and physics learning via multiple regression analysis. Motivation (dependent variable) was measured via the use of the chemistry and physics-specific versions of Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ II). The participants were 281 full-time undergraduate students in three different academic departments of a Greek tertiary education institution. Students’ gender was shown to exert an effect of small size on their motivation for chemistry and physics learning, while a larger, however mostly small effect, was observed with regard to the students’ academic major. Students’ academic experience from the attendance of physics and chemistry courses was measured via an instrument which was developed specifically for this research, and it was shown to be the most influential factor affecting their respective learning motivations. In addition, strong evidence was provided that the academic experiences acquired during tertiary education have a significantly more intense effect in configuring students’ motivation to learn either chemistry or physics relative to the ones obtained in the immediate past referring to the previous educational grade (secondary education). Keywords: academic major, gender effect, quantitative research, science learning, students’ experiences