The study of cadets’ educational activities motives at Civil Aviation University

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the motives of students’ educational activities in the field of general professional training and in the study of a university mathematics course. The methodology of A.A. Rean and V.A. Yakunin considered in the work, containing sixteen motives, was used to study the opinion of cadets in its classical version in relation to the entire training at the chosen university, and the same motives were suggested for the cadets to consider in relation to the study of the course of higher mathematics. Mathematics plays an important role in the training of technical professionals; it is a basic discipline that ensures the success of training in general engineering and special disciplines. At the same time, mathematics studied at school differs significantly from mathematics taught at a university, the amount of mathematical information offered is much larger, the content level of the concepts introduced is much more complex. Cadets at civil aviation university who have started studying mathematics at the university have a definite opinion by the end of the first semester. The results of cadets’ opinions analyses may allow the teacher to have an adequate idea of the motives of cadets’ educational activities in relation to obtaining mathematical knowledge. The priority motives obtained are discussed from the standpoint of solving pedagogical problems of teaching mathematics.