Abstract
Aim: the goal of this study is to investigate the motivational structure of participants of Chemistry Olympiad summer camps. The participants are young students who achieved the best results in chemistry olympiads. Chemistry is one of the least popular subjects among czech students and therefore is important to understand what motivates extraordinary, or gifted students, to learn.
 Methods: participants (N=38) completed a combination of qualitative and/or quantitative questionnaires. The primary questionnaire, known as the Motivational Induction Method (MIM), is a quality-quantitative questionnaire that uses the principle of open-ended questions. This method can provided a deep understanding of participants´ plans, desires and wishes but also fears, inhibitions or problems. Other questionnaires used were: the Learning Motivation questionnaire and the Achievement Motivation questionnaire which measure the sources of motivation and proportion of achievement needs, respectively.
 Result: the MIM questionnaire, providing qualitative-quantitative analysis, showed that participants´motivation was mainly focused on self (identity) and contact with others (social motivation). The Learning Motivation questionnaires revealed that the two most important motivational sources for learning chemistry were: one, the acquisition of a good profession in the future (instrumental motivation); and two, cognitive movitavation, or simply the positive feeling one experiences from learning something new. The Achievement Motivational questionnaires revealed that participants´ need to avoid failure was lower in comparison to general pupils.
Highlights
The primary questionnaire, known as the Motivational Induction Method (MIM), is a quality-quantitative questionnaire that uses the principle of open-ended questions
The Chemistry Olympiad is a competition for gifted young students who are interested in chemistry
According to Detlef Urhahne, Lok Hang Ho, Ilka Parchmann & Sabine Nick (2012), motivation of olympiad participants is not studied systematically, they used the expectancy-value of achievement motivation of Eccles, et al (1983), and found a number of factors in achieving success in competitions including: positive parental inÁuences, intelligence, prior achievement, school grades, motivation and emotions of the participants
Summary
The Chemistry Olympiad is a competition for gifted young students who are interested in chemistry. Gifted students have higher than average cognitive abilities (measured by IQ tests) by between 15% and 50% According to Detlef Urhahne, Lok Hang Ho, Ilka Parchmann & Sabine Nick (2012), motivation (except causal attribution) of olympiad participants is not studied systematically, they used the expectancy-value of achievement motivation of Eccles, et al (1983), and found a number of factors in achieving success in competitions including: positive parental inÁuences, intelligence, prior achievement, school grades, motivation and emotions of the participants. It is possible to say that success requires a higher than average understanding of chemistry, and a high level of motivation
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