A study in educational motivation : student's motivation related beliefs concerning co-operative education and school

• Main Author: O'Keefe, Barbara A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1999
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/9088/; https://research.library.mun.ca/9088/1/OKeefe_BarbaraA.pdf

In Newfoundland and Labrador schools there is a mode of delivering the curriculum which enables students to experience the world of work while still in high school. Co-operative education is a course of study that gives hands-on-training while connecting school curriculum to work skills. This study investigates the relationship between co-operative education and student educational motivation by investigating five motivational theories. -- The investigation was designed and conducted using a framework based on five theories, namely: B. Weiner's (1990) Attribution Theory, E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan's (1985a, ) Self-Determination Theory, C. Dweck and E. Elliot's (1988) Goal Theory, M. Covington's (1984) Self-Worth Theory, and A Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory (1977). One hundred and sixty-nine co-operative education students from twelve high schools on the Avalon Peninsula volunteered to participate in the study. A qualitative methodology was used to conduct the focus group sessions and to analyze the data collected during the sessions. -- The intent of the study was to determine if the co-operative education structure was different than a traditional classroom structure, what effects co-op has on student motivation, which elements of co-operative education influenced student motivation, were the learning experiences at a co-operative education placement different than the learning experiences in a traditional classroom setting, were these differences in the learning experiences due to the program's structure, the co-operative employer or the co-operative teacher. During the investigation the five educational motivational theories' confirmed that co-op was a mode of delivering the curriculum that fostered and enhanced student motivation and that this mode of delivery was structured differently than the traditional classroom activities. The findings confirmed that the co-operative education experiences obtained at the workplace influenced the students' educational motivation. Ninety-seven (57%) of the students ...