Motivation in Learning and Teaching

What would you do? It is July and you have finally gotten a teaching position. The district wasn’t your first choice, but job openings were really tight, so you’re pleased to have a job in your field. You are discovering that the teaching resources in your school are slim to none; the only resources are some aging texts and the workbooks that go with them. Every idea you have suggested for software, simulation games, visual aids, or other more active teaching materias has been met with the same response, “There’s no money in the budget for that.” As you look over the texts and workbooks, you wonder how the students could be anything but bored by them. To make matters worse, the texts look pretty high-level for your students. Besides, the district curriculum requires these units. Students will be tested on them in district-wide assessments next spring. How would you arouse student curiosity and interest about the topics and tasks in the workbooks? How would you establish the value of learning this material? How would you handle the difficulty level of the texts? What do you need to know about motivation to solve these problems? What do you need to know about your students in order to motivate them? With 2 or 3 other members of your class, brainstorm what you could do to motivate your students.

What is motivation? Motivation is usually defined as an internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior. Motivation is the factors that influence the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistance of behavior.

Motivation cannot be directly observed; its presence can be inferred from what we can observe. It helps explain why behavior changes over time. Psychologists think of motivation as a factor that helps to explain the relationships between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses.

Psychologists studying motivation have focused on five basic questions: What choices do people make about their behavior? Why do some students, for example, focus on their homework and others watch television? How long does it take to get started? Why do some students start their homework right away, while others procrastinate? What is the intensity or level of involvement in the chosen activity? Once the backpack is opened, is the student absorbed and focused or just going through the motions? What causes a person to persist or to give up? Will a student read the entire assignment or just a few pages? What is the individual thinking and felling while engaged in the activity? Is the student enjoying it, feeling competent, or worrying about an upcoming test?

There are many factors that influence motivation and engaged learning There are many factors that influence motivation and engaged learning. You are going to read some students’ profiles in a general-science classroom.

Each of these students has problems with at least one of the five areas of motivation: choices, getting started, intensity, persistance, or thoughts and feelings. Can you diagnose the problems? Hopeless Geraldo won’t even start the assignment –as usual. He just keeps saying, “I don’t understand,” or “This is too hard.” When he answers your questions correctly, he “guessed” and he “doesn’t really know”. Geraldo spends most of his time staring into space; he is falling farther and farther behind. Safe Sumey checks with you about every step –she wants to be perfect. You once gave her bonus points for doing an excellent color drawing of the apparatus, and now she produces a work of art for lab every time. But Sumey won’t rik getting a B. If it isn’t required or on the test, Sumey isn’t interested. Satisfied Spenser on the other hand, is interested in this project. In fact, he knows more than you do about it. Evidently he spends hours reading about chemistry and performing experiments. But his overall grade in your class is between B- and C+ because when you were studying biology, Spenser was satisfied with the C he could get on tests without even trying. Defensive Daleesha doesn’t haver her lab manual –again, so she has to share with another student. Then she pretends to be working, but spends most of her time making fun of the assignment or trying to get answers from other students when your back is turned. She is afraid to try because if she makes an effot and fails, she fears that everyone will know she is “dumb” Anxious Aimee is a good student in most subjects, but she freezes on science tests and “forgets” everything she knows when she has to answer questions in class. Her parents are scientists and expect her to become one too, but her prospects for this future look dim.

Hopeless Geraldo won’t even start the assignment –as usual Hopeless Geraldo won’t even start the assignment –as usual. He just keeps saying, “I don’t understand,” or “This is too hard.” When he answers your questions correctly, he “guessed” and he “doesn’t really know”. Geraldo spends most of his time staring into space; he is falling farther and farther behind. (He has problems with getting started; thoughts and feelings) Safe Sumey checks with you about every step –she wants to be perfect. You once gave her bonus points for doing an excellent color drawing of the apparatus, and now she produces a work of art for lab every time. But Sumey won’t rik getting a B. If it isn’t required or on the test, Sumey isn’t interested. (She makes good choices, gets started right away, and persists. However, she is not really engaged and takes little pleasure in the work and has problems with persistance and thoughts-feelings) Satisfied Spenser on the other hand, is interested in this project. In fact, he knows more than you do about it. Evidently he spends hours reading about chemistry and performing experiments. But his overall grade in your class is between B- and C+ because when you were studying biology, Spenser was satisfied with the C he could get on tests without even trying. (He is prompt in getting started, engaged, persistent , and enjoys the task). Defensive Daleesha doesn’t haver her lab manual –again, so she has to share with another student. Then she pretends to be working, but spends most of her time making fun of the assignment or trying to get answers from other students when your back is turned. She is afraid to try because if she makes an effot and fails, she fears that everyone will know she is “dumb”. (She makes poor choices, procrastinates, avoids engagement, and gives up easily because she is so concerned about how others will judge her.) Anxious Aimee is a good student in most subjects, but she freezes on science tests and “forgets” everything she knows when she has to answer questions in class. Her parents are scientists and expect her to become one too, but her prospects for this future look dim. (She has problems with thoughts-fellings. Her worry and anaxiety may lead her to make poor choices and procrastinate, which only makes her more anxious at test time.)

What energizes and directs our behavior? The explanation could be drives, needs, incentives, fears, goals, social pressure, self-confidence, interests, curiosity, beliefs, values, expectations, and more.

According to some pyschologists, motivation is ... Personal traits or individual characteristics. Certain people, so the theory goes, have a strong need to achieve, a fear of tests, or an enduring interest in art, so they work hard to achieve, avoid tests, or spend hours in galleries. A state, a temporary situation. For example, studying because you´ll have an exam; you are motivated by the situation.

Some explanations of motivation rely on internal, personal factors such as needs, interests, and curiosity. Other explanations point to external, environmental factors –rewards, social pressure, punishment, and so on.

Many sources of human motivation fall into four general categories: Biological factors, particularly the need for food, water, sex, and temperature regulation. Emotional factors, such as panic, fear, anger, love, and hatred. Cognitive factors: people can behave in a certain way because of their erceptions of the world, their belifs about what they can do, and their anticipations of how others will respond. Social factors: from reactions to parents, teachers, sibligs, friends, television, and other cultural forces.

Theories about motivation: no one theory is complete and they all complement each other. Instinct Theory and its Descendants Arousal Theory Incentive Theory Drive Reduction Theory

Instinct Theory and Its Descendants: Insticts are automatic, involuntary, and unlearned behavior patterns consistently “released” by particular stimuli. It refers to fixed-action patterns because they are unlearned, genetically coded responses to specific “releaser” stimuli. People do not have to learn to be hungry or thirsty or to want to stay warm, and they appear to be biologically prepared to fear potentially dangerous stimuli. These theorists argue that many other aspecs of human behavior, including helping, aggression, and mate selection, are also motivated by inborn factors –specifically, by the desire to pass on our own genes to the next generation.

Drive (empuje) Reduction Theory: It emphasizes biological factors, but it is based on the concept of homeostasis, which is the tendency for organisms to keep physiological systems at a steady level, or equilibrium, by constantly making adjustments in response to change. According to this theory, an imbalance in homeostasis creates a need -a biological requirement for well being. The brain responds creating a drive –a feeling of arousal that prompts an organism to take action, restore the balance, and reduce the drive. Drives help people to satisfy needs, thus reducing drives and the arousal they create. There are two types of drives: a) primary –biological needs; and b) secondary –learned drives.

Arousal Theory: There are some behaviors that increase people’s levels of activation, or arousal. Arousal is the level of activation reflected in the state of several physiological systems. One’s level of arousal can be measured by the brain’s electrical activity, by heart action, or by muscle tension.

Incentive Theory: Instict, drive, and arousal theories of motivation all focus on internal processes that prompt people to behave in certain ways. The incentive theory emphasizes the role of environmental stimuli that can motivate behavior by pulling people toward them or pushing people away from them. According to this view, people act to obtain positive incentives and avoid negative incentives.

A classic distinction: locus of causality Locus of causality is the location –external or internal – of the cause of behavior. Intrinsic motivation is the natural tendency to seek out and conquer challenges as we pursue personal interests and exercise capabilities. When we are intrinsically motivated, we do not need incentives or punishments, because the activity itself is rewarding. When we do something to earn a grade, avoid punishment, please the teacher, or for some other reason that has very little to do with the task itself, we experience extrinsic motivation.

If teachers count on intrinsic motivation to energize all their students all of the time, they will be dissapointed. There are situations where incentives and external supports are necessary. Teachers must encourage and nurture intrinsic motivation, while making sure that extrinsic motivation supports learning.

Food and Eating Sexuality Role of the Brain

Achievement Motivation People who have need achievement seek to master tasts and feel intense satisfaction from doing so. They exert strenuous efforts in striving for excellence, enjoy themselves in the process, and take great pride in achieving a high level.

High achievement needs vs. Low achievement needs. They set challenging goals They actively seek success, take risks, and are intensely satisfied with success. If they have tried their best, they do not get upset by failure. They are preoccupied with their performance and level of ability. They select taks with clear outcomes, and they prefer feedback from a harsh but competente critic rather than from one who is friendlierbut less competent They like to struggle with a problem rather than get help; they can wait for delayed rewards, and they make careful plans for the future. They like to succeed but instead of joy, they feel relief at having avoided failure.

What are some gender differences in Achievement Motivation?

What is the role of achievement need and job satisfaction?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives and Its critique

Can motivational conflicts cause stress? If so, how does that happen?

Conflicting motives and Stress Approach-Approach conflicts: choose one of two desirable activities Avoidance-avoidance clinflicts: select one of two undesirable alternatves Approach-avoidance conflicts: one event has both attractive and unattractive features. Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts: when an event has two or more alternatives and each has both positive or negative features

Opponent-process theory, motivation, and emotion The opponent-process theory is based on two assumptions: Any reaction to a stimulus is automatically followed by opposite reaction, called the opponent process. After repeated exposure to the same stimulus,, the initial reaction weakens, and the opponent process becomes quicker and stronger.

Emotion? Feeling? Sensation?

The nature of emotion: subjective, objective Emotion is transitory; moods tend to last longer. It has a valence; it could be positive or negative It brings a cognitive appraisal. It alters the thought process It elicits an action tendency Emotional experiences are passions, Learned and innate expressive displays and physiological responses Expressive displays: a smile, a frown Physiological responses: biological adjustments needed to perform the action tendencies generated by emotional experience.

The Biology of Emotion

Theories of Emotion James-Lange: The CNS generates specific physical responses; observation of the physical responses constitutes emotion. There are different emotions that are associated with different physical responses. Schachter-Singer: The CNS generates non-specific physical responses; interpretation of the physical responses in light of the situation constitutes emotions. The excitation generated by physical activity can transfer to increase motivational intensity. Cannon-Bard: Parts of the CNS directly generate emotions; periphera physiological responses are not necessary. People with spinal cord damage experience a full range of emotions without feedback from peripheral responses.

Communicating Emotion: Innate expressions Sociocultural expressions According to Darwin, facial expressions of emotion are innate and universal and these expressions evolved because they effectively communicate one creature’s emotional condition o thers. Facial expressions appear to be innate. And certain facial movements are universally associated with certain emotions. Many expressions are learned, and even innate expressions are modified by learning and social contexts. Emotions can be communicated by different facial expressions in different cultures. In ambiguous situations, people’s emotional expressions may serve as a guide about what to do or not (social referencing)