What Motivates Students?
1. Motivation refers to the reasons individuals take action. Motivation to learn is a willingness or desire to gain information, develop skills, and attain mastery. Motivation is tied to the belief that learning is interesting and relevant and therefore of value.
2. The reason for learning something must be perceived as worth the effort and emotional investment required to accomplish the learning.
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation
1. Intrinsically motivated students engage in an activity “for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes.” Extrinsically motivated students, on the other hand, perform “in order to obtain some reward or avoid some punishment external to the activity itself,” such as grades or teacher approval (Lepper, 1988).
2. Research suggests that intrinsically motivated students earn higher grades and achievement test scores than extrinsically motivated students. Intrinsically motivated students also tend to employ learning strategies that demand more effort, prefer more challenging tasks, feel more confident about their ability to learn new materials, and retain information and concepts longer. In contrast, extrinsically motivated students prefer tasks with a low degree of difficulty and tend to put forth a minimal amount of effort (Brewster & Fager, 2000; Dev, 1997; Lumsden, 1994; Lepper, 1988).
3. Research indicates that verbal rewards, such as positive feedback, enhance students’ motivation, while indiscriminate use of tangible rewards can actually lead to decreases in intrinsic motivation. When rewards are used, they must be used sparingly and clearly linked to realistic performance standards.
Motivational Strategies
Student motivation is influenced by both internal and external factors. Internal factors include students’ individual dispositions, interests, responsibility for learning, values, and perceived ability. External factors include the types of schooling practices that promote or inhibit motivation.
A summary of research-based strategies for motivating students to learn is provided below.
1. Connect learning to students’ lives: Research has shown that students are more motivated to learn when they understand their education is personally relevant to their interests and goals.
2. Connect effort with successful outcomes: Students are more likely to engage fully when they recognize the link between effort and outcome. When students learn to associate their hard work with accomplishments and success, they will be more motivated to participate in learning activities.
3. Use engaging teaching methods: Research has found that children and adults who are interested in particular activities or topics pay closer attention, persist for longer periods of time, learn more, and have more positive feelings about the learning experience.
4. Clearly articulate criteria for success: Classroom expectations for performance and behaviour should be clear and consistent. Teachers should explain exactly what is expected on assignments or activities.
5. Set realistic goals. Teachers should help students set achievable goals for themselves. Setting a goal demonstrates an intention to achieve and activates learning. Research has found that students who set their own goals demonstrate greater effort and persistence than those whose expectations are set by others.
6. Assess students’ skills, interests, and learning needs: Teachers should learn about their students’ viewpoints, interests, hobbies, and extracurricular activities and assess their level of understanding, skills, and self-initiative to ensure enthusiasm toward learning
7. Give students control over their own learning: Research suggests that students’ motivation increases when they are given as much control over their own learning as possible, within the constraints of the educational setting. Allowing students to take part in the decision-making process and giving them an active role in their own learning has been found to foster intrinsic motivation.
Goal setting:
When a student sets academic goals, it helps them focus, creates motivation in their schoolwork, and allows new—more positive—behaviours to form.
As motivational speaker Tony Robbins has pointed out, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
Why Goal Setting Matters
Research indicates that goal setting can impact student motivation and academic success. The American Institutes for Research asserts that setting goals can fuel “students’ learning-to-learn skills, such as a sense of agency, intrinsic motivation, and capacity to manage their own learning.”
How to Use Goal Setting with Your Students
Teachers can encourage students to set their goals through various channels, including group meetings, one-to-one advising sessions, or daily lesson plans. Academic goals should encompass a few factors:
1. Be specific: Tell students to focus on exactly what they want to achieve. If they want to become better at science, for instance, they should focus on one or two steps that would get them to that goal. For example, their goal might be to do science homework every night and get extra help weekly.
2. Measure progress: A student should know when they meet their goal—or at least understand that they are making progress toward it. So what does that look like? One way is to set milestones, acknowledge when each one is achieved, and define next steps (e.g., no longer needing tutoring in a subject area).
3. Make it attainable: An impossible goal merely frustrates a student. They need to know that while goals are meant to challenge, they must be achievable within the required time frame and with the resources they have. The goals should also be relevant to their ultimate objective.
4. Set a timetable: Goal setting should come with an expiration date. When will a student start working toward a goal, and when does completion happen?
“Aiming for progress—rather than perfection—will allow students to maintain perspective, celebrate achievements, and continue persevering toward their goals,” says educator Nancy Barile in an opinion piece for Education Week.4
References:
1. What motivates them?
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544660.pdf
2. Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544660.pdf
3. Motivational Strategies
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544660.pdf
4. Why goal setting matters
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-in-education/resource/what
teachers should-know-about-student-goal-setting
5. How to use goal setting with your students
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-ineducation/resource/what-teachers-should-know-about-student-goal-setting
Conclusion:
1. When a student finds a topic interesting, they are more likely to immerse themselves in it and gather information eagerly.
2. This inherent motivation drives them to explore the subject thoroughly, seeking out various resources, perspectives, and insights.
3. Example, if a student is more interested in English but least interested in Maths, he can develop interest in Maths by regularly solving interesting puzzles, examples and tricky questions.
4. This will help him for further studies, competitive exams and to solve tedious calculations.
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