Theories and principles associated with motivation

What is motivation? What choices do people make about their behavior? How long does it take to get started on a task? What is the intensity or level of involvement? What causes a person to persist or to give up? What is the individual thinking and feeling during the activity?

General ideas: intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation Intrinsic: Natural tendency to seek out and conquer challenges, stems from interest or curiosity, the activity itself is rewarding Extrinsic: Engagement occurs in order to earn a reward or avoid punishment, not really interested in the activity for its own sake

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Self-determination theory: Humans have basic needs including the need to: (1)feel in control of their lives (autonomy); (2)be effective in dealing with the environment (competence) and; (3)have relationships with others (relatedness) With your neighbor, distill three pedagogical principles that make sense in light of self-determination theory.

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Self-worth theory: We must protect our sense of competence, or, our self-worth This drives us to try to be successful May cause us to avoid certain activities where we might not be successful - this is called self-handicapping Describe a time when you or someone you knew was unwilling to attempt a new activity. How would a self-worth theorist describe this behavior?

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Expectancy value theory: Motivation is a function of two values - Expectancy, or the belief that one will succeed at a task or activity and… Value, or the belief that there will be some reward or indirect benefit from participating in the task or activity Think carefully about your content area… what kinds of activities or ideas would your pursue that have a high value to students? How then, would you increase expectancy?

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Social cognitive theory: Self-efficacy is the key here… believing oneself capable of successfully performing certain tasks or activities Persistence comes from increased self-efficacy Increased self-efficacy can come from encouraging words and past successes Turn to your neighbor and describe two activities - one in which you have a high level of self-efficacy and another in which you have a low level of self-efficacy. Now imagine what a teacher could do to engage you in tasks associated with the low self-efficacy activity. How is this just like school for many kids?

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Attribution theory: Explore learners’ beliefs about why they do well or poorly on academic tasks. These beliefs are known as attributions. Attributions can be associated with external factors (luck, whim, destiny…) or internal factors (hard work, character…) From this we get internal vs. external locus of control What advice would you give to a student of yours who scored well on a test but really seemed to believe it must be about luck more than about effort?

Theoretical approaches to motivation… Goal theory: People pursue goals in several areas that may include academics, social relationships, career, financial gain, physical and psychological well-being. In school settings, goal theorists distinguish between mastery goals (to gain new knowledge and skills) and performance goals (to look competent in the eyes of others) Tell a story about a student you knew or know who is all about performance goals. How can you help students adopt mastery goals?