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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Investigating Internal and External Motivational Factors in STEM-Based Foundation Programme Enrolment

Zaidi Yaacob, Marziah Mokhtar, G. Nagamany Govindan, Nazira Zubir, Noor Azlinda Zainal Abidin

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i5/12233

Open access

This study investigated the internal and external motivational factors that compelled Malaysian upper secondary school students to opt to study in the science stream after their PT3 examination but abandon STEM stream to enrol in non- STEM programmes for their foundation level studies. Notable is the fact that, although these students were qualified to continue their studies in STEM fields, they declined to continue their studies in STEM fields. The rejection of STEM fields of studies among these students is mirrored in the decline in the enrolment into STEM-based programmes at foundation levels studies. Studies have shown a similar trend in many countries and there has been a lack of studies on the reasons for this phenomenon among Malaysian students particularly those within the period of transition between secondary school and pre-university programmes. The data collection was carried out using a questionnaire in google form that was distributed online, in which the respondents answered all items on a five-point Likert-scale. The questionnaire was adapted from the report on the IRIS (Interest and Recruitment in Science) and the data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 27 to deduce the relationships between opting for and rejection of STEM courses among the population of students under study, as proposed by the research model. The findings of the study indicate the motivational factors that influenced the student’s choices for and against STEM to differ between the two contexts of study namely the post PMR and post SPM.

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In-Text Citation: (Yaacob et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Yaacob, Z., Mokhtar, M., Govindan, G. N., Zubir, N., & Abidin, N. A. Z. (2022). Investigating Internal and External Motivational Factors in STEM-Based Foundation Programme Enrolment. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 12(5), 1831– 1846.