Hur var det i skolan idag? : Elevers tankar om motivation
Abstract (Summary)By doing this study we wanted to get insight to and increase the understanding of pupils’ experiences of motivation at school. We wanted to enhance teachers’ awareness of it, because they are to stimulate pupils in acquiring knowledge. The intention of this interview study was to learn about pupils’ comprehension of how they experience motivation and undermotivation at school. A comparison between pupils in the fifth and the ninth grades in the compulsory school was made. The information was gathered by a method called focus interview, an interview that happens in a group. In our interpretation of the interview outcomes we used three different motivation theories; social cognitive theory, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and attribution theory. The result was that pupils experience motivation when they can work with and towards concrete goals and when they can influence their study situation. Even marks and evaluations can be motivating factors for pupils, but they are not as effective as concrete goals and influence over study situation are. We found that there is not a big difference between how these two age groups conversed about motivation. The only, visible, difference was that the younger pupils didn’t want to show when they were undermotivated, whereas the older pupils showed it openly. However, both of the age groups had similar thoughts about marks, despite that the pupils in the fifth grade don’t get marks.
School:Högskolan i Skövde
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:02/25/2008