A Comparison of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Classroom Motivational Orientations of Gifted and Learning Disabled Students

This is a PhD dissertation in the field of educational psychology (completed in 2003). As such, this book describes the details of a research project that involved measuring the levels of academically-related "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" motivation among a group of 57 gifted/talented students and a group of 53 learning disabled students in grades four through nine (using Dr. Susan Harter's "A Scale of Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom"). The results from these group measurements are compared, both by grade levels and by ages.

The average reader will likely not find this book to be very "entertaining" - this is a step-by-step description of a scientific comparison research study that follows the organization and writing style (using academic jargon) of a typical doctoral dissertation.

Classroom motivation has always been an important topic in our schools, and this dissertation presents one research study that provides additional information on this subject.

The data and information contained in this dissertation would be of particular interest to classroom teachers, school administrators, college and university students and faculty, educational researchers, as well as parents and others who have an interest in original research studies related to the classroom motivational orientations of gifted and learning disabled students.