Investigating the Relationship between Students’ Interest and

Intrinsic Motivation with Curiosity in Learning Science

Lisa Ariyanti Pohan

, Julia Maulina

, Uswatun Hasanah

and Tuti Hardianti

Chemistry Education, Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Jl. Sisingamangaraja. Teladan-Medan. Medan. Indonesia

Physic Education, Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Jl. Sisingamangaraja. Teladan-Medan. Medan. Indonesia

Keywords: Students’ Interest, Intrinsic motivation, curiosity in Learning Science.

Abstract: This study isto investigate: (1) initial student’s interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity in learning

science, (2) to the relationship between student’s interest and curiosity in Learning Science, (3) the

relationship between intrinsic motivation and curiosity in Learning Science, (4) the relationship between

student’s interest and intrinsic motivation with curiosity in Learning Science. The subject in this study is

students of seventh- grade Integrated Islamic Junior High School Medan. The path analysis was applied to

conceive the liaison between student’s interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity in Learning Science. The

findings were indicated that the most of the initial students’ level of interest, intrinsic motivation, and

curiosity in learning science positively in very high and high level. The relationship between interest,

intrinsic motivation with curiosity toward science was acquired multiple R is 0,992.It shows a very strong

level of relationship between students’ interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity. The linearity relationship

between interest, intrinsic motivation and curiosity is the students' curiosity towards science lessons

increased due to increased interest and intrinsic motivation. In the significance Fcolumn in the ANOVA

table, F-value <0,05 or p-value> t-Statistic means interest is very influential on curiosity.

1 INTRODUCTION

Every person has an interest in something different

in his or her type of interest and level (Silvia,

2006).Interests are defined as one's attraction to

something that makes them more heedful and spry.

(Krapp, Hidi, &Renninger, 1992).Interests are not

merely positive emotions or momentary interest,

interest includes stored knowledge, stored values,

and feelings that affect direct involvement in

scientific tasks (Ainley, et al, 2005). Interest in

something arises because there is a positive

interaction between the individual and the object

(Krapp,2005; Schiefele, 1991). Individual interests

cover curiosity, surprise, and interest, all of which

are seen in action or behaviour (Silvia, 2006).

The students' impressions of fun things about

science have an impact on the growth of students'

interest in science lessons (Bulunuzz& Jarrett,

2010).

Based on the investigation was carried out by

Tai and colleagues at US high school students found

students who had an interest in science career in

grade 8three times more likely to get a bachelor's

degree in science than those who do not show

interest(Tai et al, 2006). In another study

approximately 65% of scientists with a high

academic title in science field interviewed said that

an interest in science had been begun before junior

high school was due to the interaction with

interesting science lessons (Maltese & Tai,

2010).Therefore the memorable experience of

science must be created with the active and

interactive learning environment along with the

interesting learning materials so that interest can

survive in students into individual interest (Krapp,

2004).

In many literature, it was stated that motivation

was one of the key elemens for students’ success

doing difficult tasks in learning and working

(Jovanovic &Matejevic, 2014). One of motivation is

intrinsic motivation which originates from a

personal inclination effects encouragement to

achieve the goal (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Intrinsic

motivationstimulates curiosity and tries to find the

answer of the problems (Renninger, 2007).

Curiosity is one of the goals of learning

achievement derived from the work of cognition in

Pohan, L., Maulina, J., Hasanah, U. and Hardianti, T.

Investigating the Relationship between Students’ Interest and Intrinsic Motivation with Cur iosity in Learning Science.

DOI: 10.5220/0008886304270432

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR 2018) - , pages 427-432

ISBN: 978-989-758-437-4

427

the affective domain and be in charge of stimulating

the desire to learn continuously and independently.

(Stumm, et,al, 2011; Sinha, et,al, 2017).The

curiosity that grows and develops in the student's

feelings will give rise to actions that encourage an

individual to engage in the activities of finding

something through independent information

searching, conducting voluntary investigation

activities for expecting a memorable experience

while doing so(White, 2009; Baumgarten, 2001).

In Engel's book (2105), Daniele Beryle is the

first researcher that learns the human's curiosity

experimentally. He said that the curiosity is thought

of as an impulse like an appetite where hunger

triggers us to seek food. When curiosity wraps our

feelings, we try to satisfy feeling by seeking

information. So, curiosity can be an expression in

words and behaviours and encouragement to know

more information.

Schmitt &Lahroodi (2008), argues that curiosity

is the desire of self-motivation to know something

that arises and attracts one's attention to the object

and in turn focuses one's attention to it.However,

curiosity does not automatically develop into well-

developed individual interests and the degree of

engagement that leads to the desired outcomes of

greater learning and mastery. (Arnone, et, al, 2011).

2 METHODS

2.1 Procedure

The research method that used in this study was

survey of correlation. Data collection technique was

conducted by employing a set of questionnaires and

interview to students. The interview was carried out

representation from each level. As for its

questionnaire type consist of : interest, intrinsic

motivation, and curiosity in learning science.

The questionnaire indicatorsof interest in learning

science was adapted from hard skills and soft skills

by Hendriana, et, al, (2017). The following its

indicators : 1) Pleasure feeling, 2) Students’

attention, 3) Students’ involvement, 4) Diligent in

doing the task, 5) Diligent and discipline in learning.

The indicators of questions for intrinsic motivation

were adapted from Schunk et, al,(2008) : 1)

Thefirmness of purposee(to make effort doing the

work seriously), 2) Student's belief in self-ability

(students’ competence), 3) Feelings of pride in the

execution of a good task, 5) High expectations on

the success of the task performed, 6) Fully

engagement in learning process.

The questionnaire indicatorsof curiosity in

learning science was adapted from Binson,

(2009).The following its indicators : 1) The desire to

seek new information, 2) Asking questions related to

the subject matter, 3) The desire to apply knowledge

to find a new concept (inquiry), 4) Active in solving

problems in science lessons. (Searching for answers

to the knowledge learned).

Interviews were done to teachers and students to

ask the science learning process that had been done

by teachers and had felt by the students.Instruments

were designed according to indicators and validated

by testing the validity of test contents through expert

judgment (Azwar, 2016).

The obtained student’s responses on the

questionnaires were scored according to scoring

criteria. The means on each variable interest,

intrinsic motivation, and curiosity in learning sains

were counted by computer. The next step for

analyzing data was to calculate standard deviation.

To identify initial students’ characteristic related

to interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity in

learning science, descriptive statistic analysiswas

used. The questionnaires of three instruments were

categorized based on the following level :

Tabel 1: The score interpretation level of each students’

characteristic.

Score Level

100

–

81 Ver

–

61 High

60 - 41 Mediu

–

21 Low

20 - 0 Ver

low

Data analysis adopted to understand the relationship

between student interest, intrinsic motivation, and

curiosity in learning science was calculated through

the correlation coefficient of product moment. The

significance level used was 0.05.

Figure 1: Design of research method.

Interest

Intrinsic

Motivation

Curiosity

ICMR 2018 - International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research

428

2.2 Population and Sample

The population of this research data comes from

Islamic high school students integrated in Medan.

Samples were acquired based on Purposive

Sampling technic based on criteria that had been

established by researchers, namely: high schools that

apply the concept of integrated Islamic schools.An

integrated Islamic school is a school that is based on

the Islamic values of the Qur'an and As Sunnah that

combines general and religious lessons.There were

three schools participating in this study where the

number of students in each school as follows: The

first school were 50 students. The second school

were 115 students. The third school were 86

students. Total students who had participated in this

study were 251 students.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Result

Based on the results of investigations on the

character of students in the three schools are as

follows: Students are from middle to upper class,

religious atmosphere, friendly, and communicative,

students easily regulated.From data analysis

identification of students’ characteristic related to

interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity were

acquired as follow :

1. The initial level of students’ interest in Learning

Science

Figure 2:The criteria of students' interest in Learning

Science.

Figure 2 above elaborates the percentage of

students' interest level in science lessons. Students

who had a very high interest in science lessons were

23% as many as 58 students. There were 143

students on high- interest level 57% highest on this

criteria.There were 37 as many as 15% students on

level medium. There were 12 students as many as

4,8% in in the low level of interest. There was only 1

student, namely 0,4% on the lowest level of interest.

2. The initial level of students’ intrinsic motivation

in Learning Science

Figure 3:The citeria of students' intrinsic motivation in

Learning Science.

Figure 3 above elaborates the percentage of

students' intrinsic motivation level in science

lessons. Students who had a very high intrinsic

motivation in science lessons were 54% as many as

135 students. There were 96 students as many as

38% onthe high level of intrinsic motivation. For the

medium level of intrinsic motivation were 6% as

many 14 people. There were 3 students as many as

1,2% on the low level of intrinsic motivation. The

lowest level ofintrinsic motivation was 1,2% as

many as 3 students.

3. The initial level of students’ curiosity in

Learning Science

Figure 4:The citeria of students' curiosity in Learning

Science.

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Score

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Score

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Score

Investigating the Relationship between Students’ Interest and Intrinsic Motivation with Curiosity in Learning Science

429

Figure 4 above elaborates the percentage of

students' curiosity level in science lessons. There

were 29 studentsas many as 12% on the very high

level of students’ curiosity in science lesson. There

were 129 studentsas many as 51%on the high level.

In the medium level of curiosity detected were

79 students as many as 32%. The low level of

curiosity was 4% as many as 10 students. The lowest

level was 1.6% as many as 4 students.

The data analysis showed the relationsheep

between student’s interest, intrinsic motivation and

curiosity in Learning Science was

calculated through

product moment correlation coefficient. The level of

significance used was 0.05.

4. The correlation students’ interest toward curiosity

Table 2: Table of RegressionStatistic of interest and

Curiosity in Learning Science.

ression Statistics

Multi

le R 0,991639

R S

uare 0,983348

usted R S

uare 0,983281

Standard Erro

1,833675

Observations 251

Table 3: Table ANOVA.

Df SS MS F Sign. F

Reg.

Residual

Total

249

250

49442

837,23

50279

49442

3,36

14704,5 1,899E-223

Table 4: Coeffisien Regression of Interest and Curiosity.

Coef.

Stand

Erro

t Stat

-value

Interce

t -3,3 0,566 -5,77454 2,3E-08

Nee

1 0,008 121,2619 2E-223

In table 3, the ummary output was obtained

multiple R is 0.992 that indicates a very strong

relationship between students' interest and curiosity.

The linearity relationship between interest with

curiosity is when the interest increased then the

students' curiosity towards science lessons also

increased. In the significance column F in the

ANOVA table was obtained the F-value close to

zero, which means that interest is very influential on

curiosity. Vice versa if the interest is reduced it will

affect the curiosity of students. In significance F

column on the ANOVA table was obtainedF-

value<0,05 or p-value>t-Statistic that means interest

is very influence on curiosity.

5. The correlation of intrinsic motivation

towardcuriosity

Table 5: Table of Regressionof intrinsic motivation and

Curiosity in Learning Science.

egression Statistics

Multi

le R 0,974

R S

uare 0,983

Adjusted R Square 0,949

Standard Erro

3,185

Observations 251

Table 6: Table ANOVA.

df SS MS F Sign. F

Reg 1 47753 47753 4707 1,01E-163

Residual 249 2526,4 10,15

Total 250 50279

Table 7 : Coeffisien Regression of Intrinsic Motivation

and Curiosity.

Coe

St.

Erro

t Stat

-value

Intercept -16,27 1,1863 -13,7 2,8915E-32

Motivation

intrinsi

1,01 0,0148 68,6 1,01E-163

In table 5. It shows the summary of the output

obtained multiple R-value is 0.974 shows a very

strong relationship between intrinsic motivation and

curiosity of students.The linearity relationship

between intrinsic motivation and curiosity is the

students' curiosity toward science lessons increased

due to intrinsic motivation increased. In the

significance F column in the ANOVA table, F-value

ICMR 2018 - International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research

430

<0,05 or p-value>t-Statistic means intrinsic

motivation is very influential on curiosity.

6. Multiple correlations betweenstudent’s interest,

intrinsic motivation and curiosity in Learning

Science

Table 8: Table of Regressionof interest and Curiosity in

Learning Science.

egression Statistics

Multiple R 0,99163971

R Square 0,98334932

usted R S

uare 0,98321504

Standard Erro

1,83731387

Observations 251

Table 9: ANOVA.

ression 2 49441,8 24720,9 7323,1 2,87E-221

Residual 248 837,1791 3,37572

Total 250 50278,98

Table 10: Coeffisien Multiple Regression of Intrinsic

Motivationand Curiosity.

Coef

St.

Erro

t Stat

-value

Interce

t -3,4 0,89529 -3,746 2E-04

Nee

0,95 0,0425 22,369 2E-61

Intrinsic

Motivation 0,01 0,04592 0,1215 0,903

In table 8, the summary output obtained a

multiple R -value of 0.992 shows the level of a very

strong relationship between interest, intrinsic

motivation and student curiosity. Linearity relations

between interests, intrinsic motivation with curiosity

is that students' curiosity about science lessons

increases due to greater intrinsic interest and

motivation. In the significance F column in the

ANOVA table, the F value is close to zero where the

value of F <0.05 or p-value> t-statistic, which means

that interest is very influential on curiosity.

3.2 Discussion

To maximize the achievement of learning outcomes

in the activities of learning in the classroom need to

be noticed some important aspects of students'

success to understand the lessons delivered by

teachers. Among these important aspects are

interest, intrinsic motivation, and curiosity.Interest

in a lesson is one of the important components that

need to be grown in students when the learning

process occurs.Interest is related to a clear readiness

to acquire new knowledge.Interest relates to the

cognitive abilities and attitude component that have

relation with a person's psychological positive

experiences of students in a lesson(Hidi et, al, 2004).

Hidi (2001, 2006) said that Psychological

involvement in learning can promote the focus of

attention, enhancement of cognitive function,

persistence and learning involvement.

Several researchers had argued that individual

interests were improving in three stages of interest

development: (a) An interest that emerges first is

due to being built or triggered by external stimuli;

(b) The stable interest that exists on a certain

(limited) learning phase; and (c) Individual interest

appears from a relatively long-standing tendency to

engage in a particular object that liked.The

development of the interest stage will affect the

quality of the interest to be an enduring interest in

the individual that will develop into intrinsic

motivation(Hidi&Renninger, 2006; Krapp,

2007).Therefore, an interest in a lesson will foster

intrinsic motivation in learning the new knowledge.

Deci and Ryan (1985) opined, there is relation

motivation intrinsic and interest to develop

individual capacity.

One of the keys fostering in learning is curiosity.

Curiosity is a form of intrinsic motivation that drives

active learning, mastery learning andindependent

exploration (Oudeyer et, al, 2016).When someone

has been motivated intrinsically then the curiosity

become increased.Because intrinsic motivation

encourages students to search for information

independently to gain competence.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicated that the most ofinitial

students’level of interest, intrinsic motivation, and

curiosity in learning science positively in very high

and high level. The relationship between interest,

intrinsic motivation and, curiosity toward science

Investigating the Relationship between Students’ Interest and Intrinsic Motivation with Curiosity in Learning Science

431

derived from multiple R was 0.992 that indicates a

very strong level of relationship between interest,

intrinsic motivation and, student curiosity. The

linearity relationship between interest, intrinsic

motivation and curiosity is the students' curiosity

towards science lessons increased due to increased

interest and intrinsic motivation.In the significance F

column in the ANOVA table, the F-value <0,05 or

p-value>t-Statistic means interest is very influential

on curiosity.The conclusion is supported by a

significant relationship between the three support of

students' psychological aspect and success the

learning process that comes from internal students.

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