Types of Motivation
Before we can examine different theories of achieving student motivation we must understand what it is. An article from ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) pointed out an important distinction in types of motivation (1997): “Student motivation naturally has to do with students' desire to participate in the learning process. But it also concerns the reasons or goals that underlie their involvement or noninvolvement in academic activities.” These two types of motivation are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. If a learner is motivated intrinsically than they “learn for the sake of learning”. As opposed to an extrinsically motivated learner who will perform a task for external reasons such as good grades, prizes, etc. This difference is important to point out because different theories have different kinds of motivation as their final goal. One of the five theories that are going to be explored is problem-based learning.
Problem Based Learning
Often when sitting in any classroom either as a student or as a teacher one will invariably hear a student complain “when will I ever use this in real life?” This question occurs whenever a student is studying a subject that he/she did not choose for him/herself. Since high schools today do not allow students to pick and choose their classes, this is a huge problem in American high schools. Peter Ommundsen (1999) thinks that this inability to see the relevance of a subject to students’ lives in one the main obstacles in getting student motivation to increase. He presents the idea that to get students more involved one must use problem-based learning. “Problem-based learning (PBL) inspires students by involving them in meaningful activities rat...
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“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.
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The author believes that goals and desires require an individual to be motivated to move from one state of being to the next. This motivation encompasses the emotional, cognitive, social, and biological drives that trigger behavior (Maslow, 1943). Accordingly, the word motivation befalls the frequently used description of why an individual achieves a goal, and the term motivation originates from the Latin root movere, which means “to move.” Therefore, motivation stands as the state that “moves” an individual to act in a particular way. For instance, when one is lying on the beach on a warm summer day and begins to feel hot, the physical need to cool down might cause one to stand up, go to the water for a dip. If the heat remains too over-bearing,
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
“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)
According to Johnmarshall Reeve (2012), Self-Determination Theory is a macrotheory of motivation that represents an extremely beneficial general theoretical framework that can be utilized for analyzing students’ motivation and engagement. Self-Determination Theory seems relatively complex in comparison with the previously discussed expectancy-value theories because there are five minitheories that make up the overarching theoretical framework. The five minitheories include, “basic needs theory,” “organismic integration theory,” “goal contents theory,” “cognitive evaluation theory,” and “causality orientations theory” (p. 153). Each of the five minitheories helps describe and explain more specific forms of motivational phenomena and advance
An intrinsic motivation is characterized as a motivation for the sack of doing it. There is no external reward for completing the specific task in intrinsic motivation. The motivation come from the person 's desire to complete the task because they know the task itself is rewarding enough. An internal motivation differs slightly from intrinsic motivation. Internal motivation is strictly from the desire and willingness of the person to complete the task. External motivation is a motivation factored by outside influences. Whether the outside influence is negative or positive, the motivation comes from money, grades, awards, tokens, criticism, or punishments.
A positive mood in the classroom increases the students self-efficacy. I stand at the doorway and greet each child as he or she enters the classroom. A simple, “Hello, how are you?” is often enough to put a smile on the face of most students. Choice is also a very important motivator in increasing the self efficacy of a student (Brozo & Flint, 2008). I allow the students to demonstrate choice in several ways. I give each student several appropriate leveled books to select from. The student chooses from a “menu” of interesting and engaging group activities to demonstrate mastery. I need to change the students’ thinking from “I can’t” to “I can.” One strategy is to increase the chances that a student will have a successful academic experience. The student should be assigned short attainable tasks that are moderately challenging. The assignment should not be so easy that the student is insulted or so hard that he gives up. Once the student demonstrates mastery and realizes that he can be successful, I gr...
Theories of Motivation What is the motivation for this? According to the text, motivation is defined as a set of factors that activate, direct, and maintain behavior, usually toward a certain goal. Motivation is the energy that makes us do things; this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied so that we have inspiration to complete the mission. These needs vary from person to person as everybody has their individual needs to motivate themselves.
Savoie, J. M., and Hughes, A. S. "Problem-based Learning as Classroom Solution." Educational Leadership 52, no. 3 (November 1994): 54-57. (EJ 492 914)
Theorists believe that motivation within the classroom has its benefits when able to produce work from students. Some students have the ability to work without much motivation. This is known as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where students are able to motivate themselves and produce work at high standard. The students have to be determined to strive and have the self-ability to do the work that is needed (Brewer, Dun, Olszewski, 1988). Students who need more praise and encouragement to produce work come under the category of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is about rewarding the students for their work. If a student is able to get done what they have been asked, they will be rewarded with for example a sticker or a lucky dip. Extrinsic motivation for some students means the reward is...
In the following, I am going to talk about the self-concept. Self-concept suggested that there are different kinds of self, such as actual self, ideal self, physical self, public self and spiritual self (Buss, 2001).
Student motivation can be affected by several factors. These elements include parent involvement, teacher enthusiasm, rewards, peers, the learner’s environment, personal experiences, personal interests of the student, and self-esteem and self-image.
Motivation is really important tool in a learning environment. Also motivation effects student learning and their behavior as well. It directs behavior towards particular targets. Also it effect the decision which students takes. In motivation mainly we have two types which is intrinsically and extrinsically being motivated. For example: when a student is intrinsically motivated they just do it for themselves not because of the reward that they will get back. It’s just because they have their own interest and they enjoy doing that. On the other side, when a student is extrinsically motivated they just do it for the reward that they will get. That’s why in learning process it’s important that each student should