Comparison of the academic motivation, self-regulation and self- worth of the gifted and normal students in Karaj

Abstract</strong> </strong>The purpose of this study was to compare the academic motivation, self-regulation and self-worth of the gifted and normal students. It was a causal-comparative study. The research population consisted of all 11-year-old female students studying in the gifted and normal schools of Karaj educational district 1 in the academic year 1397-98 (totally 2107 people). Using random cluster sampling method, a female school was selected from the schools of Karaj educational district 1. Two classes of 11th</sup> grade of that school including 50 students were selected randomly from among the 11th</sup> grade classes and a sample of 50 gifted high school students was also selected purposefully. The subjects responded to Valerand and colleagues (1992) questionnaire, Self-Regulatory Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990) and Rosenberg Self- worth Inventory (1965). The purpose of this research was to investigate the following hypothesis: there is a significant difference between the academic motivation, academic self-regulation and self- worth of the gifted and normal students. Data were analyzed by independent samples t-test using SPSS software. Findings confirmed the above hypothesis and showed that the level of the academic motivation, self-regulation and self-worth of the gifted students is higher than the normal students. Therefore, the above results emphasized the need to pay attention to the components of the self-regulation learning, and reinforcing the motivational beliefs and internal values of the normal students, because the correct policy of the educational development is of paramount importance to both the gifted and normal people.