What Motivates Chemistry Students?: A Statistical and Qualitative Exploration of General Chemistry Students’ Motivation
Mentor 1
Kristen Murphy
Start Date
28-4-2023 12:00 AM
Description
Whether it is an intrinsic interest or a required course for their major, students have motivations behind taking a class. Understanding students’ motivations in a course can offer instructors insight on how to best structure and tailor their course for student success. Previous research demonstrates that motivation is multilayered, and students often possess more than one aspect of motivation towards the course and to varying degrees. These reasons can impact a student’s academic performance. However, there has been little research conducted surrounding motivation in the context of chemistry. Motivation of general chemistry I and II students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was captured using survey responses and semi-structured interviews and was studied using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Using the UWM student responses from motivation surveys previously cited in literature, and factor analyses was utilized to understand the factoring of the survey items, and eventually to calculate subscores of various components. Additionally, student interviews were performed to validate the survey items and factor structures found in the analyses. The student interviews also highlighted students’ interpretation of the survey items and the reasoning behind their ratings. The results from the factor analyses and interviews will be presented in this poster.
What Motivates Chemistry Students?: A Statistical and Qualitative Exploration of General Chemistry Students’ Motivation
Whether it is an intrinsic interest or a required course for their major, students have motivations behind taking a class. Understanding students’ motivations in a course can offer instructors insight on how to best structure and tailor their course for student success. Previous research demonstrates that motivation is multilayered, and students often possess more than one aspect of motivation towards the course and to varying degrees. These reasons can impact a student’s academic performance. However, there has been little research conducted surrounding motivation in the context of chemistry. Motivation of general chemistry I and II students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was captured using survey responses and semi-structured interviews and was studied using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Using the UWM student responses from motivation surveys previously cited in literature, and factor analyses was utilized to understand the factoring of the survey items, and eventually to calculate subscores of various components. Additionally, student interviews were performed to validate the survey items and factor structures found in the analyses. The student interviews also highlighted students’ interpretation of the survey items and the reasoning behind their ratings. The results from the factor analyses and interviews will be presented in this poster.
