Kunskapssyn - en alternativ förklaring till elevers motivation

Sammanfattning: Student motivation is a topic that is constantly relevant. In this literature study we have asked 'How does the personal epistemology affect the motivation in social science?'. Based on a social constructive perspective of knowledge and in relation to how motivation functions (based on an expectation-value theory), we have analyzed studies conducted in the field of personal epistemology with a meta-analytical method in order to draw a conclusion about how students’ personal epistemology influences their motivation in the field of social sciences. The result of the study is that students with a sophisticated view of knowledge, there is more motivation for learning versus students with a more simple understanding of knowledge. A sophisticated understanding of knowledge helps students to put more value in a task and expects to accomplish and understand tasks ahead of them, rather than to assess grades and other external motivational factors. In the context of the subject social sciences discursive character, a sophisticated understanding of knowledge becomes even more important for learning as the subject of social sciences is of a holistic, constructive and normative character, which can largely be equated with the knowledge that the research classifies as sophisticated.