The Importance of Motivation
Motivation is perhaps the most crucial element of a child’s education. According to Michael B. Brown, Ph. D at East Carolina University, an academically motivated student is a child that “wants to learn, likes learning-related activities, and believes school is important” (Brown, 1998). Thus a motivated student and a smart student are not categorically equivalent. While the correlation between intelligence and achievement is higher than the correlation between achievement and any other factor, the relationship is not perfect. For instance, 10 students with identical IQs will demonstrate variability in achievement on similar and dissimilar learning tasks (Andrews, 2003).
Motivation is one of the primary causes of the range of scores. Thus, it is logical to conclude that in order to maximize a student’s potential, and in turn the educational experience, a student must be motivated. With the knowledge that motivation must precede success, it is clear that those in charge of educational planning should attempt to maximize motivation with the forthcoming technological advancements.
The Nature of Motivation
Before educators can begin to map out a plan to stimulate motivation via the use of technology, they must first have a sufficient understanding of the nature of motivation itself (Marlow, 1999). Motivation is not a static entity, but rather a constantly changing intrinsic essence that is continually being influenced by way of internal and external forces. As young children, we have a natural sense of motivation. This can be each time “a baby struggles to reach a toy, learn to walk or eat without help” (Brown, 1998). All of these are examples of motivation to learn. However, this natural inq...
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United States Department of Education. (n.d.). Technology and Education Reform. Retrieved April 6, 2004 from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/index.html
The site contains a very detailed description of the various changes in the classroom sparked by the advent of new technologies.
Ysseldyke, J. (2002). Cooperative learning. University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development. Retrieved April 29, 2004, from http://education.umn.edu/research/ResearchWorks/coop-learning.htm
Ysseldyke detailed the five externalities of cooperative learning. He also described how these attributes influenced motivation.
Weiner, R. (2000). More Technology Training for Teachers. New York Times. Retrieved on April 22, 2004 from http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/22/technology/22EDUCATION.html?ex=1083211200&en=740fa1d60417ec03&ei=5070
In order for effective cooperative learning to occur five essential elements are needed; positive interdependence, face-to-face interactions, individual accountability, social skills and group processing. (Johnson, 1999, p. 70-71). Social skills being the foundation to achieving all other elements required, without this set of skills the individual learner will find it difficult to cooperate with others. Thompson (1996) “social skills are paramount to applying cooperative learning to academic tasks” (p. 84).
“Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time, how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel about the task, and how long they persist at the task” (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). The biggest question educators face in today’s classroom is what motivates a student to do something and why? Virtually all students are motivated in one way or another. Research of student motivation suggests a theory that emphasizes a social-cognitive perspective. The cognition of students regarding academic work are influenced by social factors, such as messages from the teacher about the difficulty of the task, the perceived abilities of classmates, and the information about the importance of learning the material (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). In this paper the focus will primarily be on those elements within the classroom that influence student motivation and engagement.
Many researches have been conducted to investigate what motivates students for better academic performance and whether it has a correlation with achievement motivation.
Keller, John M. (2006). What Are the Elements of Learner Motivation? Retrieved July 4, 2011
Technology enables students and teachers to have a fast and easy way to acquire unlimited access to tons of information. With all of the useful technologies, the curriculum is bound to change in endless ways, creating more opportunity for learning.
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
"Research Center: Technology in Education." Education Week American Education News Site of Record. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. .
Building self-esteem, enhancing student satisfaction with the learning experience, and promoting a positive attitude toward the subject matter are all benefits of collaborative learning. A higher degree of accomplishment takes place as a group because you essentially are a team. An example of this is a sports team. In a collaborative situation it takes every member to do his or her part in order for a situation to have a greater resolution; as where a sports team needs everybody’s individual talent to win a game. In retrospect, as a group; the contributions of our own talents can make the difference between a “win or Lose situation” it gives you a sense of competition, and knowing that you can win as a group; self esteem in one’s self is accentuated. Johnson and Johnson (1989), Slavin (1967). Another benefit to collaborative learning is based on the members of your group. Every individual in the group demonstrates their own input based on where they were born, what nationality they are so on and so on. The benefit of this is that you get a different perspective on things rather than always knowing what you know. You can take information from other cultures and add or apply it to what you already know.
It is first important to understand how motivation works in the classroom. There are infinite procedures teachers use to achieve desired effects from their students, but there are general patterns these motivational tools follow. In order for teachers to communicate with their students, they must identify with their needs on an individual basis (Gawel, 1997). This proposal is much akin to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which states five basic needs that must be met in order to achieve full motivation. These needs, in ascending order, are as follows: physiological, security, love and belongingness, esteem and self-respect, and self-actualization (Gawel, 1997). Each of these needs details a very important issue in motivation inside the classroom and out.
Raths, David. "THE Journal." : Technological Horizons in Education --. David Raths, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Motivation is an important multidimensional construct that is consistently associated with achievement in school (Salanga & Bernardo, 2016). Hence, motivation plays a role in achieving success academically. Students with high sense of efficacy have the capacity to accept more challenging tasks, have higher abilities to manage time, have increased persistence in the face of obstacles, exhibit lower anxiety levels, show flexibility in the use of learning strategies and have a high ability to adapt with different educational environments (Elmotaleb & Sahalof, 2013).
The concept of motivation is not easy to be grasped, especially in terms of defining it because, it is not something touchable that people or researchers can give it an exact definition which covers all its aspects. All the definitions presented are different views of scholars and researchers who try as much as they can to offer an exact and clear definition and they still try to do that. Here in this chapter we are going to present some scholars views and opinions to know a little about that concept and what do they think it means;
The cooperative learning method influence two essential components for self-esteem: the fact of feeling appreciated by one's peers and the feeling of doing things well in academics. Students are usually considered friends by more colleagues, feel more successful in their academic work and, in fact, have greater achievements than in traditional classrooms. For these reasons, cooperative learning can really increase students' self-esteem.
Courville, K. (2011). Technology and its use in Education: Present Roles and Future Prospects. Presented at the 2011 Recovery School District Technology Summit. Baton Rouge, LA.
Technology affects every aspect of our lives. From romance to business, it has shown its presence everywhere. But technology has had a huge impact on education that cannot be denied, and has done nothing but improve the quality and quantity of education.