What Underachieving
Middle School Students
Believe Motivates them to Learn
Middle School Students
Believe Motivates them to Learn
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Middle School Students Believe Motivates them to Learn |
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Chapter 1: The Challenge to Educate Everyone Chapter 2: A Review of Literature Chapter 3: Methods Chapter 4: The Results Chapter 5: Discussion
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Motivation is the next key factor. This does not refer to why teachers might want students to learn material, but why students might want to learn it. Subconsciously, students decide every day what they will learn and what they will not. Teachers can increase the likelihood that students will learn when they try to motivate the students intrinsically or extrinsically. Intrinsic motivation is very powerful. Teachers can invoke it by relating learning to student interests and goals, or finding ways to make learning interesting, perhaps by using novelty, mystery, curiosity, "blood and guts," or fantasy. Extrinsic motivation can either improve learning or shut it down. A focus on punishments and rewards can be counterproductive to learning (Kohn, 1993, 1994). Autonomous supportive strategies, on the other hand, can make extrinsically required learning as powerful as intrinsically motivated learning (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Deci, Spiegel, Ryan, Koestner, & Kauffman, 1982; Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991). The student participants liked having choices and input into their learning. Choice was one of the key attractions of hands-on and project work. Students also described being given choices among class assignments and required readings, setting schedules, and being flexible in how they meet content requirements. Choice was also one of the teachers’ key strategies for meeting students’ different learning styles. Teachers should provide students choices and give them opportunities for decision making, planning, designing, and creating. |
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Send questions or comments to wilder@somtel.com Last updated April 25, 2001 |
Assistant Professor of Education University of Maine at Farmington 104 Main Street Farmington, ME 04938 207.778.7179 wilder@somtel.com http://violet.umf.maine.edu/~mmuir |