Learning, Thinking, Communicating

Archive for Parents Workshops

24 Jan 2012

Motivating Learning

“ I have never met a de-motivated pupil”

Your reaction to that statement may be one of incredulity which could result in you not reading the piece that follows – and when I tell you I stand by that statement then you’ll may even consider the possibility that I am either delusional or at least a bit ‘out there’.

So before you stop reading let me explain.

When we use the word motivated we generally have an internal representation of an individual who has the ability to be focussed, on task and able to complete a project that has been set.

In terms of pupils we often imagine motivated pupils as being fully engaged in the learning process; undertaking work set with a high degree of positivity.

However ‘motivation’ could be seen as that certain something which encourages an individual to engage in a behaviour which ‘moves’ them from one emotional, physical or environmental ‘state’ to another. In essence all behaviour is motivated by something… even inaction can be said to have some internal or external motivator.

Perhaps when we say that a person is ‘de-motivated’ we are really saying they are not behaving or moving in a ‘direction’ we think they should be.

We could consider every behaviour as being the result of MOTIVES, MODIFIERS and MODELS.

Our MOTIVES are our basic needs or drives. We can consider these drivers has having an biological, physiological, emotional, social and aspirational base.

We do not however, always behaviour directly on the whim of these drives. How we respond to these needs are MODIFIED by our values, attitudes and beliefs AND we defer to MODELS of behaviour which we have produced results in the past or have been observed in the actions of others.

The psychological make-up of the individual in this framework is seen as being the interplay between the unconscious drivers and internal modifiers.

In terms of LEARNING (which can be considered in behavioural terms and as a result of engaging in learning activities) students will engage positively or not depending upon a mix of unconscious “decisions”. These “decisions” are influence by the individuals own perception of:-

RELEVANCE of the learning objective (What’s in it for me)

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION to the learning activity or objective

COMPETENCE and SKILLS in terms of ability to undertake the task

In this mix there will also be the degree of compliance (or not) the student demonstrates in the learning situation.

COMPLIANCE may, in some cases drive pupil with a low estimation of their competences to excel because they like (or fear) the teacher; like (or dislike) the topic; deference to social groups which hold learning in high regard (or not).

The attached presentation below outlines some key points which could be used to promote debate about learner motivation. (There is also a PDF on Learner Motivation on the XTRA Ressources Page).

In short educational tasks are motivational IF..

They are RELEVANT (having a clearly defined purpose), EMOTIONALLY ENGAGING and given a REAL WORLD CONTEXT.

If a pupil perceives a task to be beyond their self-defined skill level they may become anxious.

If a pupil perceives a task to be below their self-defined skill level they may become bored.

When perceived skill level is just below the challenge of the task the learner; has emotional connectivity relevance and context we may find that there will be an increase in learner motivation.

Penair Parents Session 24/01/12 PowerPoint can be found here : Penair240112