Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in student motivation towards science and mathematics by gender, grade level and courses liked by students. The study group were 740 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who were volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected by using a Likert-type motivation scale developed by Dede and Yaman. Data were analyzed by using discriminant analysis, MANOVA and oneway ANOVA for testing the hypothesis of the research. Results indicated that there were significant differences in motivation levels of students towards mathematics and science by grade levels, gender and, the most preferred lessons. Discriminant analysis also revealed that the predicted groups for levels of motivation matched the groups of the levels of motivation found in this study.

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