Abstract
Student motivation is widely regarded as an essential prerequisite for learning and success. To learn more about biology student motivation and how it changes over time, pre/post-surveys were administered to a large introductory biology course during the fall of 2015. These pre/post-surveys contained motivation subscales from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Although students began the course with high levels of motivation, the pre/post-survey scores revealed that their intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and value scores declined during the semester. The value/usefulness (IMI), pressure/tension (IMI), and test anxiety (MSLQ) pre-survey scores were the best predictors of course performance. The implications of these findings and suggestions for improving student motivation are discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 20-26 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | American Biology Teacher |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2019 |
Keywords
- IMI
- MSLQ
- Motivation
- anxiety
- biology student
- value