Teacher Motivation and Its Effect on the Academic Achievement of Kindergarten Children

Fall 2011 Gender differences on Intrinsic Motivation in Hong Kong Higher Education Hon Keung Yau Man Shan Kan City University of Hong Kong Alison Lai Fong Cheng Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are different levels of intrinsic motivation towards study, curiosity and external regulation among males and females. This study focuses are attained by conducting a survey (137 students) among a local university in Hong Kong. Results show that among all students, no matter males or females, their levels of intrinsic motivation towards study, curiosity and external are the same. Burger, Dahlgren, and MacDonald (2006) found that male have higher intrinsic motivation to gamble when compared with female. Another study shows that masculine students have higher intrinsic motivation than feminine students when responding to competition (Conti, Collins, & Picariello, 2001). However, when talking about intrinsic motivation to study, will the result of comparing males and females still be the same? Most Hong Kong people spend more than twenty years to learn as much knowledge as they can to get high academic qualifications. Among all students, there is a question of how students can gain more than others when learning in the same learning environment, and whether either one gender has higher intrinsic motivation towards learning. Motivation is an essential element to directly affect students’ learning and performances. Some students may feel that they are not active but under obligation to learn. It is due to lack of motivation in learning, which would not result in good performance. According to Olsson (2008, p. 7), motivation is a reason or set or reasons for engaging in a specific activity, especially human behavior. The reasons can be basic needs, an object or a goal. Self-determination theory (SDT) by Deci and Ryan (1985, 1991) is currently the most comprehensive theories of motivation with empirical support. According to SDT, intrinsic motivation is