The effect of intrinsic motivation on science aspirations in grade eleven students in Dehiowita Education Zone

Abstract

Students’ aspirations are strongly associated with their intrinsic motivation. Thus, this quantitative study was conducted to identify the effect of intrinsic motivation on science aspirations in Grade Eleven students in two 1AB schools and two 1C schools in the Dehiowita education zone to compute the relationships of the above two psychological factors of students. The convenience sampling technique was used to select 435 students from Grade Eleven who sat for G.C.E. (O/L) in 2023. A Likert-type multidimensional questionnaire was administered to measure students’ aspirations and intrinsic motivation. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted according to the G.C.E. (Advanced level) subject stream and across gender. Results showed a high positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and aspirations of the science stream (R2 =.953 (186), t=61.165, p=.000). Moreover, there was a low positive relationship of the above aspect in subjects other than science (R2 =.519 (247), t=16.301, p=.000). The results demonstrated a high positive relationship of female students when compared to the male students (Female; R2 =.910 (183), t=42.943, p=.000 and Male; R2 =.920 (250), t=53.496, p=.000). Thus, the effect of intrinsic motivation on aspirations in science is more substantial than other subjects. As such, student intrinsic motivation is to be enhanced to empower students’ aspirations.