What Determines the Elementary School Students' Desire to Learn? The Structure of the Subject Motivation of Students Studying within Different Educational Systems

Abstract

The authors carried out the investigation dealt with the influence of the educational system on schoolchildren’s subject academic motivation. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of the study of mathematics and Russian language in elementary schoolchildren enrolled in the Elkonin – Davydov system of developmental education (N = 337) and the so-called traditional education (N = 669) are analyzed. The children enrolled in the developmental education classes showed significantly higher rates of intrinsic motivation and identified motivation, which are two most beneficial types of academic motivation. This means that learning activities in the developmental education classes are more based on interest, desire for self-development and understanding the value of the educational process, than ones in the so-called traditional classes are. Another meaningful and independent contribution to the quality of academic motivation (especially children’s intrinsic motivation and identified moti- vation) is made by children’s satisfaction with their teachers’ personality. Features of developmental education that contribute to student motivation are discussed.