The Impact of GRIT on the Increase of Academic Motivation among 4th Grade Students

Abstract

The current socio-economic trends leave a deep imprint on the educational process, directly influencing the evolution of the didactic methodology. One of the fundamental objectives of modern pedagogy is to teach the student to learn autonomously, throughout his whole life. This path of personality development must take place in motivating conditions, ensure a thorough training, with multiple connections to the fields of practical activity. Motivation is the foundation upon which educational success is built. It represents an important mental process because it triggers and drives the student's action. Often, a student's success is attributed to their talent or luck in a particular field of activity, and (perhaps) less to the effort and perseverance invested. In order to have the success that students want, the three values that guarantee success on any level are perseverance, ambition and development, or in one word grit. The purpose of this research was to develop, implement and test the effectiveness of an intervention program based on GRIT development activities regarding the development of academic motivation in 4th grade students. Following the re-evaluation of the participants involved in this research, the results showed improvements both at the level of Grit and at the level of academic motivation. After calculating the effect size, the program demonstrated its efficiency obtaining a d between .30 and 2.05.