Effect of middle school students' motivation to learn technology on their attitudes toward engineering

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of motivation to learn technology, as perceived by South Korean middle school students, on their attitudes toward engineering. Using the instruments of Glynn et al. (2011) and Lee (2008), the study focused on eighth and ninth grade students in four middle schools located in South Korea's larger cities. The study identified a positive correlation between middle school students' motivation to learn technology and their attitudes toward engineering. Also, the engineering interest was found to be mostly affected by motivation to learn technology; and the engineering curriculum and engineering consequence, by career motivation. Based on the educational implications of these study findings, this essay discusses the implementation of engineering in the middle school technology curriculum.