1. Motivation and Neuroscience of Learning
2011

2. What the best Teachers do:
Motivating Students
WTBCTD - Harvard University Press – Outstanding Book on Education & Society
Six Broad Questions:
What do the Best College Teachers Know & Understand?
How do the Best College Teachers Prepare to Teach?
What do the Best College Teachers Expect of Their Students?
What do the Best College Teachers Do When They Teach?
How do the Best College Teachers Treat Students?
How do the Best College Teachers Check Their Progress and Evaluate Their Efforts?

3. your students are motivated?
What is Motivation?
Motivation is defined as the “purposeful engagement in classroom tasks & study to master concepts”
How do you know when
your students are motivated?
This question may result in answers like “excited” or “not asleep.”
Try to get attendees to understand that motivation does not necessarily mean excited.
Students maybe “motivated” without the normal outward appearances we want to see.
Have the attendees ever had a student that surprised him or her with a good grade or thoughtful response? Why? Probably because the teacher is looking for the “look” of a motivating student – this is constructed over time, and his idea of this “look” may differ.
If the attendees get stuck, offer this analogy: You are talking Bill, a 30-year old, and he never looks you in the eyes. What does this mean? Most would say Bill is dishonest. You are talking with Sue, a 30-year old, and she never looks you in the eyes. Most would say she is shy. We “know” this from our life experience, we make assumptions based on what we have seen. It’s easier to apply what we “know” then trying to guess what non-eye contact means in each person we meet.

4. Motivation – Question 1 Think about & jot down answer:
Remember a class or workshop
that you attended where you were
provoked, interested, or motivated.
Why were you provoked,
interested or motivated?
Attendees should jot down the question to the question.
Then ask them, “Why they were motivated?” You may need to give your own answer to the question to get the discussion started.
Jot down their ideas on paper on the left side (right side will be filled in later)
Sample answers may include:
I really liked the subject. (Try to get more from this answer – what was it about the subject he/she liked)
I was interested in the topic (Try to get more – why? )
I wasn’t interested at first, until I realized I didn’t know X.
I really wanted an “A”
It was a test review, and I was afraid of flunking
We actually did stuff (lab, computer, etc.)

5. Motivation – Question 2 Think about & jot down answer:
Remember a class or workshop
that you attended where you were
bored, uninterested, or unmotivated.
Why were you bored,
uninterested, or unmotivated?
Attendees should jot down the question to the question.
Then ask them, “Why were you unmotivated?” You may need to give your own answer to the question to get the discussion started.
Jot down their ideas on paper on the right side (the left side is already filled in later)
Sample answers may include:
I really hated the subject. (Try to get more – what was it that you disliked?)
The professor was just so boring (Try to get more – why? Did she read from the text? Did she speak in a monotone).
I knew the material already (Try to get not “challenged out of this one)
I really didn’t care about the grade – it was just a fluff class
I was frustrated because I didn’t understand (Try to get the student to realize that “frustrated” is different than “bored”)
I was tired, sick, etc.

6. Motivation – What We Know
What do we know already about why we are provoked, interested, or motivated?
What do we know already about why we are NOT motivated?
Is this applicable to our students?
Have the attendees compare the lists to discover what they already know about their own motivation
Most teachers motivate in three categories:
Rewards
Discussion will follow on the theory of motivation that you can tie to the lists, and answers

7. Most teachers motivate by
What Most Teachers Do
Most teachers motivate by
Rewards or Punishments
Rewards/Punishments
This means grades or penalties

8. Motivation by Rewards Rewards are based on needs
Student are motivated to earn the reward (the “A”), if the student “needs” the grade
Have you ever “coasted” through a class,
not caring about your grade
as long as it was passing?
Ask if the attendee has ever “coasted” through a class, not caring about the grade?
Ask, “Why?”
Note that some “coast” through some classes, and not others. For example, a student may not care about a required course within his/her major, but care about the grade in an upper level course.
Several studies point out that motivating by rewards do not work (p. 33)
The point is that motivating by grades does not always work.
Point out whether “grades” was on the list of things that motivated the attendees.

9. Motivation – Why Rewards Do Not Always Work
Success Achievers
Motivated to Succeed
Low Fear of Failure
Over-Strivers
High Fear of Failure
Failure Avoiders
Indifferent to success
Failure Acceptors
Not Motivated to Succeed
Success Achievers
These are our “gifted” students
Over Strivers
These are the students that always ask about grades
Rewards via grades “stress” these students, and they may drop a class if they don’t do well on the first few assignments
Failure Avoiders
This is common with students today - It is better to be seen as lazy, then be viewed as stupid
These are the class clowns
This can also caused by societal pressure on some races/ethnicity/gender
WTBTC gives a great analogy about African Americans and Hispanics in the Physics department (p. 68)
Failure Acceptors
These are our most unmotivated students
NOTE: Just because a student is a “Failure Acceptor” in one class (biology), doesn’t mean that she is that way in other classes (English, dance, sports)
Ask the attendees which category they fall into. Most professors fall into “Success Achievers” or “Over-Strivers” so it may be hard for us to understand how to reach “Failure Avoiders” and “Failure Acceptors.”

10. How do the “Best College Teachers” Motivate?
Students learn best (because they were motivated) when:
Student were actively engaging their brains (a.k.a., active learning)
How do the “Best” do this? . . .
Active Learning does not mean an “activity” per se – it means getting the students to think, ponder, etc.
Good Lectures can engage students in active learning just as projects can.
Students learn by “constructing” knowledge – not memorizing
Refer to the list from prior slides, which will hopefully, include these things

11. How Do We Motivate? Tap into student expectations
Tap into student values
What students think is important
Focus on:
Tasks that are challenging
Tasks that are interesting
Tasks that meet a goal
Tap into student expectations
What students think they can accomplish
Focus on:
Ability to learn is controllable
Effort is controllable
Professor expects success
THE THEORY
Student Values
What do students think is important or interesting?
Challenging tasks = more sense of accomplishment
Interesting tasks = more like to actively engage brain
Meeting a goal = maybe just getting past a lower-level class to get to the “good” stuff
What can you do in this category (tapping into student values)?
Student Expectations
Most students believe that IQ is static, and outside their control
Students complain about time because they believe it is uncontrollable. Remind students they can control their effort, and make choices/prioritize
Let students know that you expect success
What can you do in this category (tapping into student expectations)?

12. Natural Critical Learning Environment
Students confront a problem
The students find the problem interesting or important
The environment is challenging yet supportive, & students have a sense of control
Students collaborate on the problem
Students know their work will be considered fairly and honestly
Students know they can try, fail, and receive feedback before grades
The “best teachers” tap into values and expectations by creating natural critical learning environment. This includes:
(1) The problem gives the students a chance to actively use their brains.
Learning cannot be transmitted
Learning is constructing knowledge within a context.
(2) People learn most effectively when they are trying to answer their own questions.
The question should be interesting or, at least, important.
Student need to know why they care about the answer.
(3) Students are challenged to compare, analyze, synthesize, not listen and remember.
The professor also “helps” this students discover their own answers (by questions).
Giving control here means inviting students rather than commanding.
They set out the “promises” of the course rather than the requirements.
They explain WGAD (Who gives a damn?).
(4) Collaboration need not be small groups.
This is encouraging cooperating inside and outside class, not competition.
(5) How would you get your students to understand their work will be considered fairly & honestly?
Answer questions, give input, don’t judge
(6) Give students opportunities to revise and improve their work before it is grading.
We learn from our mistakes.
Have attendees outline a lesson that includes each of these steps.
Create a lesson using these steps

13. Other Motivation Tips Get your students’ attention, and keep it!
Start with the students, not your discipline
Seek commitments
Help students learn outside class
Engage students in disciplinary thinking
Create diverse learning experiences
(1) Attention (Ask how, for each topic)
Begin with a provocative question
Raise issues that most students never thought of before
Use Case studies
(2) Start with the Students
Socratic method = begin with what student think they know, and then wrench them from that place (construct knowledge by tearing down paradigms)
Begin with the simple, and get increasingly complex - Great example on p. 111 (of the train)
(3) Commitments
Student’s choice to take the course
Expect that your students will be there, will participate, will think, and will learn
(4) Learn outside class
From one class to the next, students should grapple with an issue, and then discuss it next class.
Leave them with a question to ponder
(5) Disciplinary Thinking
Use class to help students reason through a problem
Understand the difference between opinions and facts
Help students understand how to think about their thinking
(6) Diversity
Use different teaching methods
Have a guest speaker, use a lab room, lecture, small groups, discussions

14. What is learning?
CHANGING the structure & actions of NEURONS so they HOLD INFORMATION in
LONG TERM MEMORY in
TEMPORAL & PARIETAL
LOBES of the CORTEX

16. LEARNING requires NEURONS to CHANGE

17. Learning requires MANY neuron changes
BUT two major changes are
1 Changing the amounts of neurotransmitters that neurons produce
2 Changing the connections between neurons

18. (1) Learning requires neurons to make MORE & LESS & DIFFERENT transmitters

19. (2) Learning requires neurons to make NEW LINKS & DELETE EXISTING LINKS with other neurons

20. + & - Bad News & Good News for Teachers
+ & -
Bad News & Good News for Teachers
in Current Neuroscience Findings

21. 4 NEGATIVES & 5 POSITIVES
4 important negative findings from neuroscience
5 important positive findings from neuroscience

22. INTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO LEARN ACADEMIC MATERIAL
Bad news finding # 1
WE HAVE NO
INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
TO LEARN
ACADEMIC MATERIAL

23. We are motivated to LEARN to get 4 PRIMARY BODY REWARDS:
Food
Water
Sex
Drugs of Abuse

24. And we are motivated to LEARN to get 5 Primary Social Rewards
Feel pleasant touch (Rolls et al. 2003)
See attractive faces (Aharon et al. 2001)
Hear positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002)
Interact with others (Rilling et al. 2002)
Gain social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002)

25. Human motivation system
Rewarding experiences
trigger amygdala activity trigger dopamine release trigger frontal lobe activity

26. Emotional intensity of an experience
AMYGDALA
Computes
Emotional intensity of an experience
Degree of negative or positive emotion

27. Increased Dopamine IS the Reward

28. Stores the reward value of experience
FRONTAL LOBE
Stores the reward value of experience
Activates behaviors leading to the most rewarded outcome

29. All other complex experiences are conditioned with primary rewards
$ USE OF MONEY
 WORKING
 LEARNING
 FOLLOWING RULES

30. Motivation to Learn School Subjects is Conditioned
Most cultures condition children
with 3 primary rewards for successful learning using food
teacher & parent approval
increased peer social status

31. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR LEARNING TRANSFER
Bad news finding # 2
THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE
FOR
LEARNING TRANSFER

32. Reviews of research show no evidence for learning transfer
Barnett & Ceci (2002 )
Clement & Lecoutre (2004)
Dixon & Dohn (2003)
Mayer (2004)

33. No transfer means no free lunch
NO SPECIFIC TRANSFER means
Learning to add DOES NOT make learning to divide easier
NO GENERAL TRANSFER means
Learning math DOES NOT make you a better learner “in general”

34. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
Bad news finding # 3
THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE
FOR
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

35. Gardner’s 11 Total Intelligences
Linguistic, Musical,
Logical-mathematical, Spatial,
Bodily-kinesthetic, Personal,
Naturalistic, Spiritual, Existential,
Mental Searchlight, Laser

36. Gardner’s Newest Intelligences
Existential = feeling at one with the cosmos
Mental Searchlight = people with high IQ test scores scan widely
Laser = artists and artisans “who generate the advances (as well as the catastrophes) of society”

37. Gardner Admits No Supporting Data Exists for Multiple Intelligences
Allix (2000) no evidence
Jie-Qi Chen (2004) no evidence
Gardner (2004) no evidence
Gardner and Connell (2000, p. 292) conceded that “there is little hard evidence for Multiple Intelligences theory” (2000, p. 292)

38. NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
There is consistent significant evidence for a general intelligence factor G that appears to be working memory —this stands against Multiple Intelligences
(Colom et al. 2004)
There is consistent significant evidence that brain systems for cognitive functions are overlapping —this stands against Multiple Intelligences (Lieberman, 2002)

39. NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES, cont.
There is evidence for specific innate cognition modules (Gallistel, 2003)
1 Fast-mapping of word to object
2 Person recognition of face, voice, clothes
3 Obligation computation of what we owe others and what they owe us
4 Imitation of all aspects of the behavior of others

40. ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES STAND AGAINST MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
Each adapted cognition module is supported by evidence of its neural operations (MI intelligences are not).
A given adapted cognition module, like Mirror Neuron Tissue, operates using our vision, hearing, speaking, gesturing, social awareness—this combines parts of 4 of Gardner’s intelligences—thus negating their individual existences

41. EVERY SINGLE MEMORY WE HAVE
Bad news finding # 4
EVERY SINGLE MEMORY WE HAVE IS
COMPLETELY
UNSTABLE

42. Heraclitus was right

43. You cannot step into the same river twice
EVERY TIME YOU REMEMBER SOMETHING, IT IS A DIFFERENT MEMORY, BECAUSE THE ACT OF RECALL IS A RECONSTRUCTION

44. RECALL TRANSFORMS OUR MEMORIES
When we remember
our brain
takes the memory apart,
updates the memory,
brings the memory to consciousness
rhen makes new proteins for a new structure for the memory as it goes back into long-term storage.

45. Good news findings # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Neuroscience research has found 5 promoter mechanisms whereby short term learning changes into long term learning

46. 5 major promoters of learning =
INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2003)
REPETITION of INFORMATION
(Squire and Kandel, 2000)
EXCITEMENT at the time of learning
(Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)
EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)
8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\

47. The first promoters are innate learning programs called ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES
SPECIALIZED BRAIN MODULES EVOLVED TO COMPUTE SPECIFIC INFORMATION OUTSIDE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS IN ORDER TO MAKE THAT PROCESS EASIER AND FASTER BECAUSE THOSE COMPUTATIONS HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT FOR OUR SURVIVAL

48. INNATE PROGRAMS = Adapted Cognition Modules are very specific computation systems
Adapted cognition modules promote quick and easy learning of certain types of information:
●We learn people’s faces, typical movements, voices, clothing, odors very easily because we have FACE RECOGNITION TISSUE in our temporal lobes
● We learn speech and tool use motor skills more easily because we have special MIRROR NEURONS in our frontal lobes that copy the speech and movements of others

49. ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES ALSO INCLUDE
COMPUTING FREQUENCIES
BASIC COUNTING SKILLS
COMPUTING WHAT OTHERS OWE US AND WHAT WE OWE THEM
FAST MAPPING OF WORD LABEL TO OBJECTS AND SITUATIONS
COMPUTING SOCIAL STATUS AND INSULTS TO SOCIAL STATUS

50. The 2nd Learning Promoter is REPETITION
Squire & Kandel (2000)
Reviewed neurobiology of learning
Brain forms long term memories depending on
“the number of times the event or fact is repeated”

51. REPETITION Squire & Kandel (2000) Reviewed neurobiology of learning
Brain forms long term memories depending on
“the number of times the event or fact is repeated”

52. Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and LESS neurotransmitter

53. Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and FEWER CONNECTIONS with other neurons

54. ORIGIN OF TEACHING IS REPETITION
We all unconsciously repeat important information in conversations
All cultures teach important stories by verbal repetition
Chinese teachers were taught to say everything TWICE…
Most teachers discover that repetition is valuable

55. The 3rd learning promoter is EXCITEMENT
LeDoux has studied the brain for 30 years & reported (2002) that “we remember particularly well…those things that arouse our emotions”

56. Cahill & Gorski (2003) research

57. Excitement automatically increases certain neurotransmitters

58. Excitement sets NEURON CONNECTIONS in the “ON” position

59. The 4th learning promoter is EATING CARBOHYDRATES
Greenwood and Winocur (2001) research: high-fat diet impairs brain glucose metabolism needed to form long term memory
Korol (2002) research: eating carbohydrates enhanced memory
(Smith, 2003) research: lack of breakfast impairs learning

60. Eating carbohydrates gives the brain glucose to organize new synapse locations

61. Eating carbohydrates provides glucose to make glycoproteins that bind neurons to one another

62. EXTREME DIETING IMPAIRS LEARNING
A majority of young women age 12 to 30 yrs in the US are on fad diets.
During periods of dieting, their learning will be significantly slowed and it will be harder for them to retain information.

63. The 5th learning promoter is 8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP
SPECIAL ISSUE of the journal Learning and Memory (2004 V11, N6) reports a wide range of evidence for consolidation of learning during sleep

64. Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
Macbeth ( )
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.

65. SLEEP IS A FREE LEARNING TOOL
DREAMING SLEEP promotes differential strengthening of neurons in networks holding learned information
NON-DREAMING SLEEP activates calcium channels that biologically repeat the neural path of learning to force long term storage

66. DREAMING SLEEP causes differential strengthening by altering neurotransmitters

67. NON-DREAMING sleep causes new neuron CONNECTIONS to be automatically repeated

68. Research shows that TOO LITTLE SLEEP or IMPAIRED SLEEP = IMPAIRED LEARNING
Alcohol ingested after a day of learning inhibits dreaming sleep and impairs memory storage of the day’s information
Drugs of abuse used after learning have similar bad effects on sleep and the day’s learning
A majority of teens, college students and working adults in the US are sleep-deprived

69. Of the 5 major learning promoters
INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2002)
REPETITION of INFORMATION
(Squire and Kandel, 2000)
EXCITEMENT at the time of learning
(Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)
EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)
8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\

70. TEACHERS CAN CONTROL ONLY 2 PROMOTERS
Repetition
&
Excitement

71. IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP BUT TEACHERS CAN ALSO PERMIT AND ENCOURAGE
HEALTHY CARBOHYDRATE SNACKING 
AND
TALK TO STUDENTS AND PARENTS ABOUT THE
IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP

72. Thank you for your Attention!