Science Learning Motivation in Rural Schools

Abstract

Motivation has been identified as a great factor influencing the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. This study aimed to look at the level of science learning motivation of students in rural secondary schools. The study was administered using a questionnaire on 237 Grade 11 students of a rural secondary schools who took general science subject. The data obtained were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science Version 21.0 (SPSS 21.0) software. Mean scores and t-test were used to find out the level of student motivation and gender differences towards science learning. Findings show that both groups of male and female students have a high level of motivation to learn science. The learning foal orientation scale showed the highest mean value of 3.97 while the self -efficacy scale had the lowest mean score value of 3.57. The findings also show that there are significant differences between genders for the level of science learning motivation. Besides, the finding also showed that there is a strong and positive relation between science learning motivation and science achievement.