مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Examine of Secondary School Students Motivation Sources towards Social Studies Course

Abstract :

The purpose of this study is to reveal secondary school students’ motivation resources regarding the social studies course. The basic qualitative research, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The motivation resources of the secondary school students regard-ing the social studies course were tried to be determined through open-ended questions. 87 students attending the 5th, 6th and 7th grades in state secondary schools in the provinces of Istanbul and Muş in Turkey participated in the study. The content analysis technique was used to analyze the research data. It was found as a result of the study that among the positive motivation resources of the secondary school students with regard to the social studies course, the intrinsic value was more dominant than extrinsic value (or utility) and attainment value (or importance). In addition, the students’ negative motivation resources were also determined and in this scope, it was found that psychological/emotional cost, task effort cost and loss of valued alternatives negatively affected the students’ motivation for the social studies course. Moreover, views about the psychological/emotional cost were more predominant than the others.