Science Education Master's Degree students' academic motivation and procrastination behaviors during the pandemic

This study aims to examine the academic motivation and academic procrastination behaviors of master's students in science education during the pandemic. The study is qualitative method of research with a case study design. Participants were selected from Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University science education master's program students using one of the purposive sampling "maximum variation". The study was carried out with a study group consisting of a total of 19 students, five males, and 14 females. In the research, the "Participant Information Form" and "Semistructured Interview" were used as data collection tools both of which were prepared by the researcher. Due to the pandemic, interviews with the participants were held online. The content analysis method was used for the analysis of the obtained data. The findings were reported under four headings as effect of the pandemic, academic motivation, characteristics of the graduate program and academic procrastination. While interpreting the data, seven themes (effect of the pandemic, academic motivation, expectation, characteristics of the graduate program, study strategy, academic attainments, and academic procrastination) emerged. The themes of "academic motivation" and "expectation" are located under the title of academic motivation, and the themes of "features of the graduate program", "study strategy" and "academic achievements" are located under the title of characteristics of the graduate program. Additionally, some categories were defined under the themes when necessary. The effect of the pandemic was handled under the categories of "personal/general", "business" and "technology"; academic motivation under "intrinsic", "extrinsic" and "amotivation"; expectation under "from the thesis", "from the program" and "status of meeting expectation"; characteristics of the program under "progression of the course", "research interest/subject of the study", "participation in academic activities", "difficulties", "faculty member/advisor", "affective", "cognitive" and "behavioral"; academic procrastination under "behavior type, prevention, affective consequences, cognitive consequences, behavioral consequences, and reason". It was seen that the participants were affected; personal/general in the form of psychological fatigue and not being able to socialize; business not being able to perform the profession; technology in the form of meeting with distance education and the development of technology skills. In the academic motivation theme, it was found that the participants were more intrinsically motivated by giving importance to professional and personal development. While it was observed that there was an increase in the self-efficacy beliefs of the participants during the graduate program in general, it was observed that they were tried to maintain their academic motivation through various motivation regulation strategies despite their low motivation during the pandemic period. They stated that with their master's study they expected to contribute to the development of science education and to improve themselves in the field of science education. It was observed that the majority of them met their expectations in the graduate process in general, and there was no change in their expectations during the pandemic period. As for the characteristics of the graduate program, although the participants felt the lack of face-to-face interaction during the pandemic period, they stated that master's education could be possible through distance learning. It was observed that the participants gave priority to the tasks whose deadlines were approaching while studying. Participants attained the most from graduate education about field education and scientific research methods. It was determined that the participants tried to complete the given tasks on time in order not to perform the academic procrastination behavior, but they had difficulties in carrying out academic studies during the pandemic period. As prevention, it has been observed that they study a little every day and sacrifice from their sleep. It was observed that master's degree students had intrinsic motivation and tried to prevent academic procrastination behaviors by employing various motivation regulation strategies during the difficult pandemic period. Considering this, motivational support should be provided to the students during their graduate studies. In addition, the participants stated that they devoted the time they spent on travelling to their academic studies on the occasion of the distance education period. For this reason, it is recommended to make legal arrangements that will allow some or all of the courses to be carried out through distance education in the master's program by supporting the interaction between the students and the faculty members, and among the students. Keywords: Academic Procrastination, Academic Motivation, Science Education, Pandemic, Master's Students