The work entitled Academic performance and motivation in the students of the Álvaro Reinoso task in the study modality as an employment of the SUM of the Sancti Spíritus Province has been developed with the aim of exploring the motivation for study in said students and its influence on academic performance.
motivation-study-academic-performance-engineering-students-cubaThe following hypothesis was raised: If the motivation for the study presented by the Engineering students of the Álvaro Reinoso Task is known, then actions can be taken to improve academic performance. In order to respond to the problem posed, the following scientific tasks were developed:
- Compilation of the teaching results of the Engineering students of the TAR employment modality Application of surveys to inquire about the motivation of the students Statistical analysis of the results of the surveys using the SPSS. Taking as Population the total number of students in the province who were studying in this modality and as a sample the total number of students who were surveyed and had documents reviewed to verify the quality of the work carried out and their professional preparation.
The results of the investigation reached the following conclusion:
There is no good quality in the teaching performance of Engineering students of the TAR employment modality.
There is insufficient professional motivation in the Engineering students of the TAR, of the 19 students surveyed, 12 have little motivation towards the career, which represents 63% of the total.
No mathematical correlation was found between motivation and teaching results.
Introduction
The Universalization of Teaching has been a step forward in the development of education in our country.
The measures taken by the revolutionary government regarding the resizing of the Sugar Industry and the incorporation of workers to other tasks and in many cases options were offered to start university studies to those workers who, due to their characteristics and school level, could be incorporated into the classrooms becoming part of the Álvaro Reinoso Task, which throughout the country has created different study modalities and in this case we have studied the study modality as employment.
Due to the characteristics of the treatment of students and the form of entry to the careers, it was found that there were deficiencies in the quality of the students, which is why the following scientific problem is stated:
Problem: The lack of motivation to study in the students of the Álvaro Reinoso Task in the modality of study as employment has a negative impact on academic performance.
Course objective: To explore the motivation for study in the Engineering students of the Álvaro Reinoso Task in the province of Sancti Spíritus and its influence on academic performance.
Hypothesis: If the motivation for the study presented by the Engineering students of the Álvaro Reinoso Task is known, then actions can be taken to improve academic performance.
Specific objectives:
- Identify living and family conditions that may affect motivation for studying Determine the motivational profile of the Alvaro Reinoso Task students Analyze academic performance Establish statistical correlation between motivation and academic performance
Criteria for evaluating the potential value of the research.
- Convenience:
This research serves to know the causes that cause the lack of motivation to study and, consequently, the low academic performance in the students of the Álvaro Reinoso task, in this way a strategy can be developed to achieve better results.
- Social relevance:
With the results of the research, the students who will be able to motivate themselves in the study and improve their academic performance will benefit, the society that these students will have when they graduate will also benefit, professionals trained to develop their functions with quality. Its social projection is to graduate engineers capable of facing the tasks demanded by the scientific and technical development of our society.
- Practical implications:
It helps to solve the problem of low academic performance, motivation to study, permanence in the career, quality of graduates, etc.
- Theoric value:
With the investigation it is possible to know the causes that motivate the low academic performance giving the guidelines to elaborate a strategy that can give solution to the detected problems. The knowledge acquired can be analyzed in all careers in order to evaluate teaching activities and take measures to improve the quality of student training.
- Methodological utility:
The research helps to define the concept of motivation for study in the students of the Álvaro Reinoso Task and relate it to the knowledge that they bring from the middle level, with the study conditions, the quality of the classes, the work of the tutor, interest in career, etc.
Feasibility or feasibility of the investigation:
This work will be developed with surveys of engineering students from the different SUMs in the province, so it is necessary to print the surveys and move to the different municipalities to try to collect as much information as possible.
The visit plan will be adjusted to the visits planned by Universalization to the municipalities to use transportation; paper and printing must be guaranteed by the Faculty of Engineering.
Theoretical framework:
"Motivation is extremely important in the educational teaching process, because it creates and stimulates the student's interest in appropriating the knowledge, habits and skills that correspond to each new stage." (Martínez; Hernández, 1987: 54)
The contemporary development of science and technology requires continuous improvement of the educational system and intensifies the need for quality in education to achieve professionals in line with current times.
In order to respond to current demands, the Cuban university has had to carry out profound transformations in its academic conceptions, and with the computerization of society, transformations in teaching methods must be provoked, implying important changes in the traditional roles of the teacher and the student through a pedagogical model established to offer ample opportunities to students, conceived to support and channel their personal efforts and aimed at ensuring that the majority are capable of successfully completing their studies.
In the document The new model of the Cuban University it is stated:
«… more independent training, in which the self-learning carried out is the center of the training process and with which most of the elements related to the material infrastructure for studying are no longer meaningful, limiting themselves only to those required to offer certain pedagogical aids, with the use of information and communications (ICT) as a fundamental route but without excluding those of a face-to-face nature when required. "
The challenge is to ensure that students assimilate university studies with responsibility and social commitment, expressed in their systematic dedication to study with independence and creativity, with a high development of the ability to manage their own knowledge.
This model focuses its main attention on student self-learning; which infers a meticulous treatment aimed at self-preparation; for being where the student develops her independent work, which is a characteristic of the Educational Teaching Process in the self-direction of learning; being necessary that it is correctly oriented, and what the student must do must be prepared by the teacher, since he himself is a source of information and directs the assimilation process.
It conceives learning based on three main components: the system of face-to-face activities, independent study, and scientific, technical and educational information services.
In general terms, it can be affirmed that motivation is the lever that moves all behavior, which allows us to provoke changes both at the school level and in life in general. But the explanatory theoretical framework of how motivation occurs, what are the determining variables, how it can be improved from teaching practice, etc., are unresolved questions, and in part the answers will depend on the psychological approach adopted. Furthermore, as Nuñez (1996) affirms, motivation is not a unitary process, but encompasses very diverse components that none of the theories developed so far has managed to integrate, hence one of the greatest challenges for researchers is trying to specify and clarify which elements or constructs are included in this broad and complex process that we label as motivation.However, despite the existing discrepancies, most specialists agree in defining motivation as a set of processes involved in the activation, direction and persistence of behavior (Francisco J. García Bacete and Fernando Doménech). If we move to the school context and consider the intentional character of human behavior, it seems quite evident that the attitudes, perceptions, expectations and representations that the student has of himself, of the task to be carried out, and of the goals that he intends to achieve constitute First order factors that guide and direct student behavior in the academic environment. But to carry out a complete and integrative study of motivation, we must not only take into account these personal and internal variables but also those other external ones,coming from the context in which the students operate, who are influencing them and with whom they interact.
In the literature we find that the term motivation is used interchangeably to refer to different concepts such as: instincts, impulses, motives, needs, goals, objectives and interests, which ultimately have all been a succession of continuous phases of human behavior. And, the motivation includes both cognitive processes and affective processes.
From the student's perspectiveThe position of Antonio Valle and Col. (1999a; 1999b) is shared when they affirm that efforts to improve university teaching are essential, but these must be accompanied by an analysis of the learning processes and the factors or mechanisms that can favor or hinder these processes. Taking into account the protagonism of students, with their part of responsibility in learning, has generated fruitful lines of research in recent years focused on learning processes in the university environment and on the cognitive and motivational determinants of the same. The relevance of the interaction of these factors has been sufficiently outstanding (Hernandez and García, 1991); however, they have traditionally been considered in isolation.The need to develop integrated models that incorporate components of knowledge, especially cognitive strategies, and motivational components is currently assumed. Assuming the relevance of these components and the need for their integration, Valle and Col. develop a cognitive-motivational model, whose adequacy and capacity to represent cognitive and motivational functioning is postulated for its contrast.
Regarding the dimensions most directly related to the motivational field, two theoretical perspectives that have been widely developed are incorporated: the processes of causal attributions and the motivation approach focused on the academic goals of the students. The assumption that supports the incorporation of causal attributions is that the different interpretations and evaluations that a subject makes of their own academic results are decisive in their motivation. The causal factors most frequently invoked by students refer to ability, effort, luck, or the difficulty of the task. But what is decisive in terms of its consequences on motivation are the characteristics that these factors present: whether a cause is external or internal, stable or unstable, controllable or uncontrollable.With regard to academic goals, the importance of two types of goals is highlighted: learning goals and achievement goals. In turn, it is assumed that a variable that influences the development of one or another type of goal is the conception of intelligence that the subjects have; Individuals can conceive intelligence as a stable and differentiated trait of effort or as a trait that is changeable and modifiable as a function of effort. Another variable for which there is empirical support to assume its influence on academic goals and attitudes of students is perceived ability, especially when they are oriented towards achievement goals.It is assumed that a variable that influences the development of one or another type of goals is the conception of intelligence that the subjects have; Individuals can conceive intelligence as a stable and differentiated trait of effort or as a trait that is changeable and modifiable as a function of effort. Another variable for which there is empirical support to assume its influence on academic goals and attitudes of students is perceived ability, especially when they are oriented towards achievement goals.It is assumed that a variable that influences the development of one or another type of goals is the conception of intelligence that the subjects have; Individuals can conceive intelligence as a stable and differentiated trait of effort or as a trait that is changeable and modifiable as a function of effort. Another variable for which there is empirical support to assume its influence on academic goals and attitudes of students is perceived ability, especially when they are oriented towards achievement goals.Another variable for which there is empirical support to assume its influence on academic goals and attitudes of students is perceived ability, especially when they are oriented towards achievement goals.Another variable for which there is empirical support to assume its influence on academic goals and attitudes of students is perceived ability, especially when they are oriented towards achievement goals.
Materials and methods
Compilation of the teaching results of Engineering students of the TAR employment modality
- Application of surveys to inquire about student motivation. Statistical analysis of the survey results using the SPSS.
Crosstabs
Analysis of the results
- A quantitative analysis of the teaching results by subjects shows that there is not a good quality in academic performance, the highest percentage of students obtained 3 points in each subject, being this 68.4% in mathematics, 63.2% in physics, 79 % in chemistry and 63.2% in political economy. Of 19 students surveyed, 47.4% (9 studies) would choose another career if they started studying, while 52.6% (10 studies) would choose the same one they are studying 31.6% (6 est) chose it because they liked it, 21.1% (4 est) because it was the one they could take, while 10.5% (2 est) because someone advised them and the 36.8% (7 students) because they had no other option. However, they recognize the importance of the career, since 68.4% state that it is as important as others, 21.1% that it is one of the most important,While 10.5% state that it is not important. 70.6% state that their relationships with their tutors are good and that the work they do has also helped them improve in their studies, while 29.4% are dissatisfied with the work of their tutors. 50% state that moral stimulation in their work centers could be one of the aspects that could motivate them to improve their self-preparation, 18.8% state that publishing the Teaching results would also motivate them to self-preparation, while another 18.8% suggest that they start their studies with a minimum wage and gradually increase it as they pass each year.Analysis of the other instrument applied shows that of the total of 19 students surveyed only 7 respond in more than 50% of the wishes, with professional reasons,the others range between 0% and 40%, a single student does it to 90% of them. No student completed 100% of the sentences with full professional motivation. Students were classified into two significant groups: motivated (7) and not very motivated (12), obtaining through the statistical test Chicuadrado that the degree of motivation has no significant influence on the Teaching results by subject: Using the Mann-Whitney statistical test, we obtained that there is no significant difference in the teaching results achieved by motivated students and the results achieved by non-motivated students.motivated (7) and not very motivated (12), obtaining by means of the Chi-square statistical test that the degree of motivation does not have a significant influence on the teaching results by subject.Using the Mann-Whitney statistical test, we obtained that there is no significant difference in the teaching results achieved by motivated students and results achieved by unmotivated ones.motivated (7) and not very motivated (12), obtaining by means of the Chi-square statistical test that the degree of motivation does not have a significant influence on the teaching results by subject.Using the Mann-Whitney statistical test, we obtained that there is no significant difference in the teaching results achieved by motivated students and results achieved by unmotivated ones.
Conclusions
There is no good quality in the teaching performance of Engineering students of the TAR employment modality.
There is insufficient professional motivation in the Engineering students of the TAR, of the 19 students surveyed, 12 have little motivation towards the career, which represents 63% of the total.
No mathematical correlation was found between motivation and teaching results.
recommendations
- Analyze the vocation of each worker linked to the TAR to direct their enrollment towards the most related career. Take measures regarding the salary stimulus during the years of study. Stimulate the student for academic performance and penalize him when said results are not satisfactory. rigorous control of attendance and systematic evaluations to guarantee the final result of each subject Give opportunity, to workers who join the ART in the study as employment modality, to make the decision to study or change jobs, committing to comply with the task to which he undertakes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Hernandez, P. and García, LA (1991) Study psychology and teaching. Theory and techniques to enhance intellectual abilities. Madrid: Pirámides.Valle, A., González, L., Cuevas, LM, Nuñez, JC (1996) Academic goals of university students and their relationship with other cognitive-motivational variables. Psychology Bulletin, No. 53, December 1996, 49-68. - Valle, A. and Rodriguez, S. (1998). Learning strategies and academic performance. Psychology Bulletin. Nª 60, September, 27-53.Valle, A. et al. (1999) "An explanatory cognitive-motivational model of academic performance at university". Psychology Studies, 63: 77-100.NUÑEZ, JC and GONZALEZ-PUMARIEGA, S. (1996). Motivation and school learning. National Congress on Motivation and Instruction. Proceedings, pp. 53-72Francisco J.García Bacete and Fernando Doménech. Motivation, learning and school performance (httpreme.uji.esarticulospa0001texto.html.2005)
- Ubaldo Fernández Medina. Self-preparation in Universalization.www.monografias.comtrabajos16 autopreparacionuniversidadautopreparacion-universidad.shtm.2005
Note: To continue, it is necessary to do a bibliographic search in degree thesis, publications, Forum works, etc., go to experts in the area to guide the detection of relevant literature and secondary sources, in order to locate the primary sources (which is the most common reference detection strategy).
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