Honors College Theses
Publication Date
4-20-2015
Major
Chemistry (B.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Faculty Mentor
Jessica Orvis
Abstract
Purpose. Both students and faculty consider chemistry 1145 courses intricate, and many students change into other majors by the end of the course. An attempt was made to find out what motivates students taking this course at Georgia Southern University to continue or discontinue taking other chemistry courses. Method. The project used a non-experimental design, which included a survey of 41 questions delivered to seven Chemistry 1145 classes. The questions were an adapted version of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS). A total of 234 students completed the survey. Analyses included measuring the consistency through Cronbach’s alpha and reliability of the seven AMS subscales. Results. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability statistics showed a .913, which is very high. The AMS was successfully adapted to apply to Chemistry 1145 courses with reliabilities comparable to dependent variables. Conclusions and Recommendations. Extrinsic-external regulation was the highest level of motivation for Chemistry 1145 students. Thus, Chemistry 1145 faculty may need to adjust their teaching styles to influence a change in students’ academic motivations.
Recommended Citation
Riggins, Keenya, "Academic Motivation of students in Chemistry 1145 courses at Georgia Southern University" (2015). Honors College Theses. 76.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/honors-theses/76
