Construction and validation of the physical science learning motivation scale among Moroccan middle school students

Abstract

This paper presents two studies concerning developing and validating an Arabic version of a scale that measures motivation toward learning physical science in Moroccan middle school students. The scale is based on the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985). It comprises five dimensions: intrinsic motivation, three forms of extrinsic motivation (identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation), and amotivation. The exploratory factor analysis (study 1) was conducted on a sample of 144 students, and the confirmatory factor analysis (study 2) was performed on another sample of 404 students. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support a five-factor structure. The results also reveal that the scale and five factors have satisfactory internal consistency indices. Moreover, the construct validity is supported by correlations between the five factors that comprise the scale. All the results thus support the psychometric qualities of the physical science learning motivation scale.