A THEORY-BASED INSTRUMENT TO EVALUATE MOTIVATIONAL TRIGGERS PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS IN STEM CAREER-RELATED SCENARIOS

TitleA THEORY-BASED INSTRUMENT TO EVALUATE MOTIVATIONAL TRIGGERS PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS IN STEM CAREER-RELATED SCENARIOS
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsKotkas, T, Holbrook, J, Rannikmäe, M
JournalJournal of Baltic Science Education
Volume16
Issue6
Start Page836-854
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedDecember/2017
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN1648-3898
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-7138
Keywordsinstrument evaluation, motivational triggers, science teaching materials, STEM career-related scenarios, STEM-related careers
Abstract

Students’ lack of motivation in learning school science has been recognized as a problem, due to its negative impact on students´ STEM-related career choices. For supporting students´ motivation to study science, the use of an introduction which sets the scene, sometimes called a scenario, has been recommended. Although scenarios, which introduce STEM-related careers in an everyday life problem solving context, are seen as useful tools for the teachers, they are not automatically guaranteed to be motivating to students. The current research aims to develop an empirically tested and validated instrument to measure the impact of context-based scenarios, through evaluating perceived motivational triggers such as relevance, interest and enjoyment by 7th grade students. An analysis of students´ responses showed that the test scenario was able to trigger mostly situational interest toward the topic of energetics. Only a small number of students indicated motivation to take the learning of this topic further.

URLhttp://oaji.net/articles/2017/987-1513970725.pdf
DOI10.33225/jbse/17.16.836
Refereed DesignationRefereed
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