Educação profissional de nível médio: estudo exploratório numa amostra de alunos, a respeito dos motivos para aprendizagem e níveis de raciocínio inferencial

Abstract

Professional education in medium level was the focus of this study, for being chosen, due it is a convenient teaching modality. It qualifies the worker in a short time and therefore it contributes to formation of critical individuals concerned to their role in the society and in work market. Fond data show that girls predominate in these courses, mainly in health technical courses. Most of these students are a little older than the average for the schooling level, 25 years old. They work and study at the same time and have already interrupted their school permanence. In a general way, the sample had a performance significantly above average for students in Minas Gerais state in RIn test and significant differences between boys and girls were not identified in this item. But concerning to motivation, in our sample, boys showed themselves as more oriented to learning goal and have looked for academic activities which represented bigger challenges and they considered that academic activities were rewarding by themselves, more than girls. The girls were more oriented to performance-approximation goal, in opposition do results for validation of Learning Motivation Scale. That is, girls behavior is directed to be the best In the class or to seem themselves as intelligent ones. It was observed that older was the sample more time out of school e worst performance in A and D series of RIn test (Non verbal reasoning test). Older the person more interested to learn she is. It was shown also that intelligence is merely a factor responsible for student motivation and class performance, mainly when they are adult in a technical and professional school. Self-effectiveness, everyone beliefs their own intelligence and effort are also basic in order that the student keep motivation. We can conclude that the results of this search are quite similar to those reported in literature on this subject.