Final Action Research Proposal

The Motivation of Students Towards Science Learning

Annette Williams

ECE660: Action Research and Inquiry in Education

Instructor Dr. Krummick

January 27, 2020

INTRODUCTION

The future professional role would be an early childhood educator to teach both Science and English. This would educate students through lectures and hand-on learning with adherence to the curriculum. The setting would be the classroom whereby it would ensure that there is a happy environment for all students. It would be good to act as a role model and a mentor by encouraging students to learn and ensuring that they do not face challenges such as depression or discrimination which would inhibit their learning. This would ensure that interacting with students more often and learn about their families. Maintaining good relationships with their families and having frequent communication would be a good way to understand any challenges the students could be facing. The current experience is helping kindergarten students learn social studies while the previous experience in helping students complete their homework. The future goal is to help improve the performance of students in science. Comment by Juliet Krummick: perfect

The purpose of the study is to find various ways in which students could be motivated during the learning of science. The student outcomes that need influence are their knowledge and skills in science and their attitude towards learning the subject. Assessments have shown that some students lack sufficient knowledge in science. The performance of students in science is also an area of interest to be influenced because it also determines whether or not the students are engaged in learning. Students are expected to obtain a positive attitude toward science learning. They should achieve good grades to show that they understand the topics at hand.

The fact that many students lose interest in learning science as they progress to higher levels shows that they are not engaged enough during the initial years of science learning specifically in first grade. Decreased motivation leads to lower grades in science (Uhm et al, 2018). Teachers do not put much emphasis on the teaching of science because they dedicate most of their time to reading within the researcher’s school. Students, therefore, lose interest in learning science because they are not fully engaged in learning by their teachers.

Teachers should ensure that they motivate students to learn. The provision of autonomy support to students enhances their motivation in learning. Student-teacher relationships are important in optimizing student motivation. "Educators and parents value motivation in school for its own sake as well as for its long-term contribution to child's learnings and esteem" (Skinner et al, 2013, 6). Motivated students show interest in learning, are enthusiastic, curious, involved and are likely to cope with setbacks and challenges. These students can stay in school for longer and learn more, therefore, they are more likely to perform well than the unmotivated students.

The target population is first-grade students. There are 20 students consisting of eight boys and twelve girls. The age range of students is 5-6 years old. The students come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Comment by Juliet Krummick: All numbers up to two words needs to be written out in APA formatting. Comment by Juliet Krummick: We need to be very specific here. How many of those students are 5 and how many are 6. What is the ratio of boy/girl? What type of cultural backgrounds are represented? What about you the researcher? Will you be part of the study? Then you need to state that there is one teacher, list your education and numbers of years in the field.

Research Question

What are some of the ways to increase the motivation of first graders towards learning in early elementary in the area of science?

The idea is within the locus of control because early childhood educators can use the strategies, they find to be most appropriate in engaging students. They can also control the size of the population, amount of information they provide to families and the way the information is documented. Comment by Juliet Krummick: The researcher… Comment by Juliet Krummick: All of these ideas should be there own sentence. You, the researcher, have control over these items.

LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Gerstner (2017), there is a correlation between the intrinsic motivation of students and their academic performance in science. This conclusion was made after elementary students in grades 4-6 were involved in the study. The strategies used were conducting self-report surveys and interviews. Comment by Juliet Krummick: These numbers need to be written out please.

Instruments

Instruments such as student report cards, face-to-face teacher interviews, and the self-report survey would be productive in investigating the area of focus. The student report cards would be used to examine the performance of students in science (Gerstner, 2017). The self-report survey would be useful in measuring the students’ level of motivation. The specific instrument to be used would be the Children’s Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (CAIMI). Students would be given consent forms to be answered by their parents. These would be used to obtain permission for participation in the study.

Face-to-face teacher interviews would have several interview questions to be answered by the teachers about motivation. The questions would be open-ended to allow interviewees to answer them freely and give more explanation. Teachers would be asked to explain what motivation means to them, the challenges in motivating students and the attributes of motivated students.

Procedures

The CAIMI would be given out to first-grade students to understand their motivation level towards studies. Before giving out the CAIMI to the students, it would be necessary to inform them that it is not a test, but a way of determining the connection between motivation and performance. The students would have to be informed that they can give various answers since there would not be a specific correct answer to the study questions. However, they would be required to answer them honestly.

Strategies

The strategies used were rewarding students who performed well in science, creating a classroom environment that is conducive to learning, giving students a choice in the type of project they would want to do and adoption of a growth mindset by the teachers. Comment by Juliet Krummick: What else can you say here? You need to add in an indirect quote as well since these ideas came from the study itself.

Article information

The study influences the area of focus in this research since it suggests several ways of increasing the level of motivation to learn science such as creating a classroom environment that is conducive to learning, having a variety of reward systems in place, giving students a choice and having a growth mindset. The teachers interviewed acknowledge setting goals as a great way of ensuring that students are motivated to study. "When a student sets a goal, it is something they want to do. The student has bought into the goal at their level" (Gerstner, 2017). Elementary students would also benefit from setting goals. Comment by Juliet Krummick: Page number or paragraph number needs following the year for all direct quotes.

Research Summary 2

Intervention

According to Cetin-Dindar (2016), science educators should emphasize more on the connectedness of science at school to real-life for motivating students to learn science. The study was conducted to examine the relationship between students' motivation towards science learning and the constructivist learning environment. The study also investigated the effect of students' self-efficacy on their motivation level (244). Comment by Juliet Krummick: So… is this a direct quote or not?

The intervention that will be used in the area of focus is emphasizing the connectedness of science and real-life issues to increase the motivation of students. When students connect science to real-life issues, they find it easy to learn the subject. Students will feel more engaged if their real-life issues are connected to science learning. The change that will be made is allowing students to have discussions and debates to ensure that they can connect their real-life issues to science learning.

Instruments

The instruments used in the research we're conducting a constructivist learning environment survey and administering a science motivation questionnaire. Three science teachers were teaching the same curriculum to a group of students. The dimensions of the survey included shared control, student negotiation, critical voice, and personal relevance.

Instruments such as science motivation questionnaires and a constructivist learning environment survey would be productive in the investigation of the area of focus. The science motivation questionnaire would be useful in determining the level of motivation of students towards science learning while the constructivist learning environment survey would be used to determine whether students would be motivated to learn science in a constructivist learning environment (Cetin-Dindar, 2016).

Procedure

The procedure was to administer the questionnaire and the survey. 243 elementary school students in Turkey in grades 4-6 in a were to give answers based on a scale in the survey. "Three different grade level students participated in the study (Table 1); the number of sixth graders was 115 (47.3%), seventh graders were 57 (23.5%), and eighth graders were 71 (29.2%)” (Cetin-Dindar, 2016, p. 236). Students would answer questions such as whether or not they learn about the world outside their schools during science lessons.

Strategies

The strategies used were providing more opportunities for personal relevance in classroom environment to the students and teaching students about the world outside during science classes. Another strategy was ensuring that the children learn in a more constructivist environment.

Article information

This research informs the area of focus in that it recommends a method of improving motivation of students towards science learning which would be emphasizing the connectedness of science to real-life issues. The science motivation questionnaire can be used to determine whether students find science learning interesting and getting good grades important. The constructivist learning environment survey can be used to determine the effect of various environments on students’ science learning.

Findings

Both articles presented various ways in which motivation of students towards science learning could be increased. One of the ways in which motivation of students could be increased is by having a growth mindset. “Having a growth mindset enables a teacher to see every student as a potential learner. They will see every student as an individual who can learn new concepts as well as old concepts” (Gerstner, 2017, p. 83). Whereas Cetin-Dindar’s article proposed teaching students on real world issues to increase their level of motivation towards science learning, Gerstner’s article proposed more strategies such as rewarding the high performers and having a conducive learning environment. Comment by Juliet Krummick: Add a year here. Comment by Juliet Krummick: Study?!?

Application

She learned about some of the ways in which motivation of students towards science learning could be improved such as having a reward system whereby those who perform well are given various presents, ensuring that there is a conducive environment for science learning, adoption of a growth mindset by the teachers and teaching about real world issues. She also learned that teachers could engage in discussions to identify more ways of motivating students in science learning. Comment by Juliet Krummick: I would use either researcher or your last name when you start mentioning yourself. Especially, since you were discussing other authors, it might not be clear that you are referring to yourself again.

REFERENCES

Cetin-Dindar, A. (2016). Student Motivation in Constructivist Learning Environment. Eurasia

Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 12(2).

Gerstner, G. M. (2017). Motivation: The Value of Developing Intrinsic Motivation in Elementary School Students in Grades Four Through Six (Doctoral dissertation, Concordia University Irvine).

Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J. (2013). Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. Journal of educational psychology, 85(4), 571.

Uhm, J., & Bae, J. (2018). The Effects of Utilizing Discussions and Debates in Science

Laboratory Classes on Science Learning Motivation, Science Process Skills, and Science Academic Achievement. Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education, 37(2), 110-125.