Table 4 Statistical comparison of the scores assigned to each item and each factor by male and female students

1. Intrinsic motivation

03. Learning histology is interesting

0.4606

0.5850

0.0153

0.1267

0.2601

0.0000

17. I am curious about discoveries in histology

0.8768

0.1280

0.0054

01. The histology I learn is relevant to my life

0.0323

0.4110

0.0625

12. Learning histology makes my life more meaningful

0.5722

0.2112

0.0241

19. I enjoy learning histology

0.6279

0.4688

0.1212

2. Career motivation

07. Learning histology will help me get a good job

0.0694

0.2695

0.7512

0.0108

0.9104

0.0963

13. Understanding histology will benefit me in my career

0.1537

0.9128

0.1217

10. Knowing histology will give me a career advantage

0.1168

0.5898

0.8420

25. I will use histology problem-solving skills in my career

0.1547

0.7221

0.7771

23. My career will involve histology

0.7377

0.9269

0.2347

3. Self-determination

22. I study hard to learn histology

0.2119

0.4284

0.0859

0.1052

0.9748

0.0001

16. I prepare well for histology tests and labs

0.1131

0.3225

0.0290

05. I put enough effort into learning histology

0.3118

0.2507

0.0214

11. I spend a lot of time learning histology

0.4152

0.9346

0.1913

06. I use strategies to learn histology well

0.7517

0.3795

0.0489

4. Self-efficacy

18. I believe I can earn a grade of “A” in histology

0.3854

0.6038

0.6002

0.2053

0.0130

0.0929

14. I am confident I will do well on histology labs and projects

0.2566

0.0692

0.4412

15. I believe I can master histology knowledge and skills

0.2669

0.1703

0.9704

21. I am sure I can understand histology

0.0770

0.6827

0.8237

09. I am confident I will do well on histology tests

0.8523

0.0098

0.0436

5. Grade motivation

04. Getting a good histology grade is important to me

0.0204

0.8090

0.2013

0.1819

0.2887

0.0151

08. It is important that I get an “A” in histology

0.1783

0.7497

0.9809

20. I think about the grade I will get in histology

0.1818

0.0775

0.0289

24. Scoring high on histology tests and labs matters to me

0.3413

0.4998

0.0387

02. I like to do better than other students on histology tests

0.2154

0.6028

0.8338