[01] Gabriel Fernando Martinez Alonso, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (FIME), Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), Nuevo Leon, Mexico. [02] Juan Angel Garza Garza, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (FIME), Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), Nuevo Leon, Mexico. [03] Cesar Gerardo Dimas Acevedo, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (FIME), Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Motivation is a complex aspect hard to accomplish for engineering students, mainly during the first semester of their career and in courses as Physics, not directly related to their specialty. This work shows a study oriented to increase the motivation of aeronautical-engineering students, based on the theory of expectancy-value, and specifically in the achievement of increasing the interest, by focusing the learning activities towards applications in the aeronautics field for a physics course. The study was performed in students of first semester consisting of two groups, one experimental, and the other of control. Measurements were made through three instruments: an interest and utility survey, of physics in engineering, applied at the beginning and at the end of the semester, a survey applied by an external agent, and the results of the evaluations of the students´ learning. Results showed a significant increase of the interest (from 2.45 to 3.08) and utility (from 2.44 to 4.17), of the physics of the students of the experimental group in comparison with the control group (interest: from 2.41 to 2.54; utility: from 2.30 to 2.91). Likewise, in the external survey, higher values of motivation for physics were obtained in the experimental group compared with all the groups (4.78 vs. 3.79) in the semester where the survey was applied. Grades obtained by the experimental group have higher values that in the control group in percent of students that succeed (73 % vs. 64 %) and in average grades (75 vs. 67), and though differences are not satisfactory, can be taken as a positive result of this work. The study has some limitations, as the number of students used in the group and the fact of being applied in a specialty of engineering, however, it can be considered as a step for future investigations in this field.

Motivation, Utility Value, Interest, Engineering, Physics, Higher Education

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