ABSTRACT: This research work was carried out to critically examine the influence of Motivational Styles And The Learning Of Chemistry Among Secondary Schools Students. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, two research hypotheses were formulated for the study. Survey research design was employed in carrying out the study. The population of the study consists of all the students in all the thirteen (13) public secondary schools. A sample size of one hundred (100) students was randomly selected from six (6) public secondary schools in the area. Random sampling technique was used in the selection of students.
The instrument used for collection of data was a questionnaire titled: “Motivational Styles and Learning of Chemistry Questionnaire (MSLCQ)”. The data generated were subjected to Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC) statistical method. The result of the study revealed that motivational style has much relationship with the with the learning of chemistry among secondary schools students.
Motivational Styles And The Learning Of Chemistry Among Secondary Schools Students
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background to the study
Motivational style is the internal feeling that arises from the desires and needs of an individual. It is the continuous process of needs and satisfaction that stimulate individual to perform. It is the process to inspire an individual to utilize his/her best capabilities for the achievements of a particular goal. Motivational styles help to arouse student’s interest, enthusiasm and regulate the individual behaviour in order to perform different tasks with interest for the attainment of set goals. Excellence and quality of an education system directly relates to the performance of its teachers. Professional competencies, skills, teaching methodologies, hard work, devotion and zeal of the teachers enhance the performance and leads towards desired excellence and quality of education. Though the professional components are of great importance yet the psychological aspects that make a teacher competent and confident at work place cannot be ignored. As in organizational psychology, it is focused that not only the ability of a person but also motivation and the way it is shown plays a very vital and effective role in improving the performance of the learning (Compbell, 2006).
Teachers can utilize successful motivational styles and tactics to make the learning effective by motivating the student interest towards the learning process. Teacher who focuses student interest toward studies actively involve learners in the teaching learning process. Activities to direct towards the learning of important processes or skills involve acquisition of useful knowledge. There is nothing more discouraging to a teacher more to spend hours preparing a lesson than to show concern about how students are going in the acquisition of knowledge.
(McKenna, 2000), asserted that motivational style is regarded as the basic part of human experience and that it is the technique or strategies a teacher adopted to make the student learn. From infancy till old age, the behaviour of people is directive by some underlying motives or needs which propel them to behave in certain manner. An individual who is motivated is likely to feel greater level of commitment in performing a task as compared to a person who has low level of motivation. The psychological factor of need can propel a person to work towards the fulfilment of his needs by engaging in certain behaviours.
Motives, on the other hand are viewed as ‘inner states’ of an individual which can encourage the engagement in voluntary or goal directed behaviour. Similarly, incentives trigger interest among people, facilitating them to participate in particular activities, thus depicting manifestation of the phenomenon of motivation. Davidson (2007), in a study conducted in Tanzania asserted that lack of motivation among the instructors has a negative impact on the performance of students. Moreover, lack of motivation can result in the adoption of a teacher centred learning style. This can inevitably result in the restricted learning and educational development of the students, which is likely to be reflected from their exam scores. Bishay (1996) proclaimed that the impact of teacher motivation on the output displayed by students in exams and test cannot be ignored. The quality of teaching students receive in the context of classroom directs the process of their cognitive development, thus motivation of teachers and student achievement in school are strongly interlinked factors.
Thus, Motivation is a multifaceted phenomenon, as individuals can experience different styles of motivation as well as feel motivated due to different factors. Based on this backdrop, the researchers want’s to investigate the influence of motivational styles and learning of chemistry among secondary school students in the study area.
Motivational Styles And The Learning Of Chemistry Among Secondary Schools Students
1.2 Statement of the problem
School world is changing; the days when students walked to their neighbourhood school, when the teaching ranks were abundant and space limitless are past. Today‘s schools are often overcrowded, staffed by temporary instructors. The country is facing teacher’s shortage that necessitates schools to go beyond the conventional and make changes that will attract new educators into the profession. Schools cannot continue relying on old methods of functioning; rather, school leaders must explore new options that go against the traditional educational grain to ensure motivation in teachers and the students in other to improved students learning especially in science related courses like chemistry.
Obviously there is no short cut or any royal road to learning new knowledge in teaching learning process but there are ways and means through which young learners can be motivated in order to exert efforts needed to learn required knowledge or skill. Present study is designed to investigate various motivational styles used by the teachers to motivate the students at the secondary school level; it further aims to investigate the influence of various motivational styles and the learning of chemistry among secondary schools students
Originally posted on October 4, 2021 @ 11:42 am
