Matviichuk I.I. - Peculiarities of motivating pupils with intellectual disorders to learning geography

Contact: Matviichuk Iryna, postgraduate student of the department of correctional pedagogy and inclusive education, Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. Academic interests: the modern means of teaching geography to pupils with intellectual disorders. 

The article is devoted to the overview of psychological and pedagogical literature in which the peculiarities of motivating high school pupils with intellectual disorders are studied. Of special interest is discovering pupils’ motivation to learning geography. To this end we applied the method of questionnaires. The subjects of the experiment were eighth and ninth graders of 14 to 17 years old. The total number of pupils with intellectual disorders who participated in the experiment was 98. As a result four levels of motivation were singled out: high, intermediate, low and very low. The questionnaire contained both open and close questions. It enabled both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the experiment results. The conducted analysis of scientific sources gives evidence that motivation of pupils with intellectual disorders lies in satisfying organic needs. The results of the investigation proved that learning motivation to geography is really restricted to low and very low level. The pupils with intellectual disorders turned out to be unconscious of the role geography classes played in their lives. The perspective way of teaching motivation and correction of pupils’ cognitive activity will be a printed geography work book. Pupils with intellectual disorders showed their interest in work books and tasks contained in them. Pupils’ self-study with work books is aimed to increase their sense of responsibility, directionality, diligence and neatness. Our further investigation work will be the implementation of this geography work book into practice as well as its approbation in the learning process of pupils with mental disorders.

Key words: motivation, pupils with intellectual disorders, learning geography, method of questionnaires, geography work book.