EDN:205 – Learning Process

B.Ed II (S) Sci: Autumn Semester, 2010

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Motivation

Brainstorming Exercise

Recollect some of the things you did yesterday after 4.40 pm till you went to sleep. What was it that caused you to initiate such actions?

Was it your instinct, drive, need, incentive, fear, goal, social pressure. Self confidence, interest, curiosity, belief, value, …?

Or simply a MOTIVATION?

What is Motivation?

Motivation is the process by which a person is impelled to seek some goal. It is an internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior.

Motivation is an internal state or condition (sometimes described as a need, desire or want) that serves to activate or energize behaviour and give it direction. [Kleinginna and Kelinginna, 1981]

Motivation can be thought of as internal process that activates, guides and maintains behaviour over time. [Krause, Bochner and Duchesne, 2003]

“Some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” (Harmer, 2001)

Two types of Motivation

• Intrinsic Motivation: Some motivations rely on personal factors such

as needs, interests, curiosity, and enjoyment. Motivation associated with these activities that are their own reward is called intrinsic motivation.

• Extrinsic motivation: Some motivations lead to external, environmental

factors such as reward, social pressure, and punishment. Motivation created by such external factors is called extrinsic motivation.

In our early childhood, how many of us genuinely enjoyed going to school?

What do you think could be some of the reasons?

Why is it important to motivate our students?

How can we keep our students motivated to learn?

How do we motivate our students to learn better, behave adequately, respect and value culture?

In the Bhutanese schools, what are some of the general factors affecting motivation of our students?

School Curriculum School Environment Teachers Parents

Discuss how each factor motivate/demotivate our learners?

Behavioural Explanations

• When students are rewarded with praise and other reinforcement for doing their work correctly, they look forward to the next class with anticipation of similar rewards

• Needs to reward students’ achievement which would act as motivator for future learning

• Behaviorist view motivation as simply the product of effective contingent reinforcement. Thus use of extrinsic reinforcement is encouraged to stimulate students.

Cognitive Explanations

• believes that children are innately active learners and thus require less motivation to be placed in the classroom/learning situation

• describes the need for achievement (achievement motivation) as a stable personality trait that leads some individuals to work for achievement

• believes that students who have high need for achievement are motivated to carryout any learning task if they think they will be successful

What happens when students in the high and low achieving groups experience success and failure?

How would they explain these different outcomes?

Social Learning Theory Explanations

• Motivation is considered as goal-directed behaviour which is closely linked to feelings of personal effectiveness.

• Observation of others are particularly important for children.

E.g. 5 year old boy saving 6 year old girl from choking by applying a life-saving technique he had seen performed on the television. The boy had never tried the techniques but was motivated to carryout because of the situation.

Humanistic View

ExerciseIt is a summer night and you are naked in bed because of the heat. Suddenly, in the middle of the night as bad luck would have it, a heavy flood strikes the area. Though unharmed, you are all alone still naked in a strange and new place. Now, what or whom will you look for first?

Needs and Motivation

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchical Needs

Who is Abraham Maslow?

An American psychologistproposed the hierarchy of human needs father of Humanism in Psychology

•Developed a model in which the low-level

needs like physiological needs must be

satisfied before higher-level needs like self-

actualizations are pursued.

•When a need is mostly satisfied it no longer

motivates and the next higher need takes its

place. • He argues that a Hierarchy of Needs exists, each having to be met before a

person can achieve his or her full potential.

Maslow posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings

Deficiency needsWhen these needs are not met, motivation increases to find ways of satisfying them. Once they are satisfied, the motivation for fulfilling them decreases.   Growth/Being needsWhen they are met, a person’s motivation does not cease. Instead, it increases to seek further fulfillment. The motivation to achieve them is endlessly renewed and can never be completely filled.

With this brief understanding on motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchical needs, discuss some of the implications as teachers/parents.

Meeting Needs in the Classroom

As educators, it is our responsibility

to meet the five basic levels of

needs in the classroom.

Implementation strategies include:

Implementing in the ClassroomSelf-

Actualization

Provide challenges Encourage autonomy

Esteem FeedbackAcknowledge success

Social IntroductionsInteract with studentsInclusive activities

Safety Maintain a safe and non-threatening atmosphereCreate a comfortable environment

Physiological

Room temperaturePacing/Breaks

Factors That Enhance Motivation Teacher's enthusiasm Relevance of the material Organization of the course Appropriate difficulty level of the

material Active involvement of students Variety Rapport between teacher and students Use of appropriate, concrete, and

understandable examples

Fostering motivation in children

•The pressure on the student must be minimized, for example, remove the competition or social comparison; revise the grading system.

•Ensure that the task is of an appropriate level of challenge for the student’s age and ability level.

•The task should also be meaningful and relevant to the learner.

•Appropriate use of rewards. Use praise liberally. Provide choice.

•Provide immediate and useful feedback

•Provide environments that are responsive to a

child’s actions.

•Respond positively to children’s questions while

still encouraging children to seek their own solutions.

•Vary your teaching methods

•Introduce students to the good work done by their

Peers

•Be specific when giving negative feedback

•Avoid demeaning comments

•Make sure that students know what they are to do, how to proceed, and how to determine when they have achieved goals.

•Try to make learning interesting by emphasizing activity, investigation, adventure, social interaction, and usefulness.

•Permit children to fail without penalty students

should learn that they can and must learn from

their mistakes

In short, when students are treated well, respected, encouraged and the work has a meaning, high levels of motivation will automatically develop.

ConclusionYou can have intelligence, knowledge base, study skills, and time management skills, but if you do not have motivation, you would not set your goals.