Malaysian students’ motivation towards Physics learning

Abstract

The purpose of this survey study was to examine the level of Malaysian students' motivation with regards to the learning of Physics at the secondary school level, and its influencing factors. The study was carried out on 337 Form Four students who took Physics as a subject, from six schools in a northern state of Malaysia - three from urban areas, and three from rural. Data from the study were collected via the "Questionnaire of Students' Motivation towards Physics Learning". Respondents were required to mark the appropriate statements describing the level or the state of their motivation towards learning Physics in schools. Gathered data were then analysed quantitatively, using inferential statistical techniques. Results obtained showed that, in general, students have a moderately high motivation towards learning Physics. Although the t-test results showed that there was a significant difference between urban and rural students' motivation towards learning Physics, no significant differences were found between male and female students, with regards to their motivation. Among the factors found to exert strong influence in determining a student's motivation towards learning Physics are aspects such as relationships, stress and effort. According to the results, it was observed that, although students have encouraging motivation towards learning Physics, further analysis show that most of them think that learning the subject in schools is not that appealing.