Effect of Student Science Motivation on Academic Achievement in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics at Secondary Level

Abstract

The study was conducted to measure the effect of science motivation on academic achievement of secondary school students in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The study targeted how intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, self-determination, grade motivation and career motivation affect the performance of the students in these subjects. The research design was correlational, and the sample included 3,475 10th grade students studying in the public secondary schools of Lahore district in Pakistan. The sample was selected using stratified random sampling. The data were collected through Science Motivation Questionnaire II (α .85 for Biology, .86 for Chemistry, and .84 for Physics) and student achievement data collected through their results on the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore exams. Regarding the descriptive findings, students reported higher level of motivation in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. The correlation analysis results revealed that motivation was moderately, positively, and significantly related to achievement in all subjects, i.e. Biology (r =.61), Chemistry (r =.66) and Physics (r =.68). In addition, the results of the regression analysis also affirmed that the motivation was a strong predictor of achievement as it explained 36.9%, 43.6%, and 46.1 % of the variance in Biology, Chemistry and Physics achievement respectively. These findings suggest that science motivation is an important factor that can improve academic achievement of students with the highest predictive strength being in Physics. Overall, the evaluation highlighted the importance of classroom activities that enhance intrinsic and self-directed motivation in the quest to assist the provision of better science learning in secondary level.