Internal motivation and students’ knowledge of math

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine whether teaching mathematics in an interesting way has an effect on increasing motivation and success of high school students. With this purpose, an experimental research was carried out with comparative groups in high schools in Čitluk, Ljubuški and Mostar on a sample of 300 students. Interesting teaching methods were utilised with students in the experimental group, while the control group worked in a traditional way. The survey questionnaire and the test of knowledge served as measuring instruments. Testing was performed at the beginning and at the end of the study. Lykert-type scale was used to test internal motivation while statistical significance of statistical significance of differences was measured using the mixed ANOVA model 2x2 and t-test. The results show a better effect of interesting teaching on the success of students, as well as an increase in students’ motivation to learn mathematics. Therefore, it is recommended to apply interesting methods in teaching mathematics.