"Is There a Problem or Is He Just Bone Lazy?": A Study of Children with Low Academic Motivation
(2005) "Is There a Problem or Is He Just Bone Lazy?": A Study of Children with Low Academic Motivation . In Gilmore, Linda A. and Boulton-Lewis, Gillian M., Eds. Proceedings 40th APS Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Full text available as: |
Abstract
Children who are poorly motivated at school are at risk of academic underachievement and a range of other adverse social, economic and health outcomes. Attributions of laziness, reflected in comments about children needing to "try harder" and "make more effort" may mask specific cognitive and learning characteristics that explain low motivation in many children. This paper reports preliminary findings from an ongoing study of "lazy" children in the early years of primary school. In order to investigate possible explanations for low academic motivation such as learning difficulties, anxiety disorders, intellectual impairment, attentional problems and giftedness, children were assessed using appropriate psycho-educational instruments, tasks and questionnaires. The discussion focuses on developing a deeper understanding of academic motivation in the early school years through illustrative profiles of poorly motivated children.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Keywords: | academic motivation: underachievement: lazy children: |
| Subjects: | 330000 Education > 330100 Education Studies > 330101 Educational Psychology |
| ID Code: | 2091 |
| Deposited By: | Hodgkiss, Anne |
| Deposited On: | 16 September 2005 |
| Alternative Locations: | http://www.psychology.org.au/ |
| Copyright Owner: | Copyright 2005 Australian Psychological Society |
| Copyright Statement: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |