Abstract and link to conference submission
Students with different degrees and types of motivation have different needs to become and stay engaged in physics learning. In this study, we conducted a survey among N=318 first-year university students measuring their motivations for learning physics. Expectancy-Value Theory was used to operationalize motivation and determine a five factor model for students’ motivation to learn physics. Three motivational profiles were identified based on factor scores. The highly motivated students were associated with high interest, utility and attainment value to learn physics. This group also had low scores on the costs associated with learning physics, and high expectation of success. The moderately motivated students had mean scores of interest, utility, attainment, cost and expectation for success close to the mean of the entire group. And lastly, the less motivated students showed a lower degree of motivation across all factors, in addition to associating higher costs with learning physics. Students from three study program categories (Physics bachelor, Engineering, and Other) and from both genders were represented in each cluster, though not evenly distributed. In the highly motivated cluster, male students and physics bachelor students were overrepresented, whereas female students and engineering students were overrepresented in the less motivated cluster. The moderately motivated cluster had a more balanced distribution of study programs and genders. The results suggest that physics teaching needs to support and develop different motivations, paying special attention to less motivated students who require more support to stay engaged. We call for more research into how different learning activities interact with motivation for a broad range of students, and how teaching can better support their engagement.
Lauvland, A., Bøe, M. V., & Henriksen, E. K. (2021): Motivation profiles among first-year physics students. Presented at the ESERA Conference 2021, Braga, Portugal