Motivating Students to learn

In the class room where a teacher responds with “wrong, idiot!” the “idiots” will quickly stop answering questions.
When the teacher gives no motivators or de-motivators at all can the teacher expect the students to become involved?
But what will encourage students to answer questions?

Rewards for trying are motivators.

Hertzberg’s two factor theorem. “There are motivators and there are de-motivators and they are not the same things.”

   Theories of motivation Notes.

Perceptions determine motivation and motivation affects outcomes.

What can we change in a student? What can we not change? What should we work at changing?

Self concept = self esteem (Judgement of self worth) + self efficacy (judgement of capability)

How a student may view a parameter about themselves and tasks.

Suggest types of punishments. (humiliated, extra home work, -ve peer pressure for high grade ..
Suggest types of rewards. (Proud parents, teacher pleased, class mates impressed …

If the student sees responsibility as theirs they can control, otherwise they have no control.
Perception of own competence produces an expectation. What is effect of changing expectation?
How can expectation be changed?

self efficacy – belief in ones capability to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments. High efficacy => higher motivation.

Where does interest a task feature in the above tables?

Control and predictability (the lack thereof is the principle cause of stress and unhappiness)

• There are things over which people have control in their lives.
• There are things that they have some control over with some ability to influence but at a cost.
• There are things they have no control over at all.
• To not be able to predict is to be very vulnerable and potentially full of fear. When the train is coming towards them they can step out of the way if they can predict where the train is going.

Each person’s “reality” places the boundary between the above differently and they have differing skill in predicting outcomes that may affect them. Failure of control and predictability causes stress.

(Jones & Jones, Comprehensive Class Room Management, pp56) states:- “ In discussing how to assist children in developing an optimistic view of life, Seligman (1995) stated that “the basis of optimism does not lie in positive phrases or images of victory, but in the way you think about causes”.”.

warm and fuzzies – making people like themselves and others, increasing their perception of worth, etc…………….

(Woolfolk “Educational Psychology”)  Piaget used the term disequilibrium as a way of demonstrating the creation of interest. Vygotsky used the Zone of Proximity as a way of restricting tasks to within the student’s capability.

Things that can motivate

Goal setting and planning – Goals focus effort, Goals:

• Direct attention to tasks,
• mobilise efforts,
• increase persistence,
• promote development of strategies.

Goals should be clear, specific, reasonable, moderately challenging, attainable.

Feedback can be negative, corrective or positive.

How can feedback affect task goal commitment?

Goal acceptance

• Goal realistic
• Meaningful
• Reasonably difficult

Types of goals

• Learning – Task involved learners
• Performance - Ego involved learners
• Indifferent – work avoidant learners
• Social – peer pressure

Teacher efficacy – Teacher belief in student increases student success

Calm and safe environment

Belief in self and importance of tasks

Accurate feedback

A Positive relationship of those involved in goals increases individual effort and performance.

Management of the following for the good of all:

Relationship parameters: Power, order, authority, support (caring with order)

Feelings of protected by authority, Honesty, fair play, respecting rights of others, respect for property, respect for difference, democratic class rooms,

Developing a supportive learning environment,

Teaching social skills

Pearls of Wisdom.
To get someone to do something you must have them want to.
If you tell yourself a lie often enough it will become the truth.
People like what they are good at and are good at what they like.
Success is built in lots of small steps.
The easiest way to stand tall in this world is to stand on the shoulders of others.
To have a friend one must first be one for by being friends one has friends.
People like people who like them,
A person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still
Failure to plan is a plan for failure
Those who can, DO.  Those who can not, do not try.
Nothing breeds success better than success itself.

Techniques of Persuasion (Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D).

Knowledge is power

The code of Reciprocity. Individuals feel obliged to repay in kind.

One good deed invites another. The concession of retreating to a smaller request after a the rejection of a large request has higher probability of acceptance than the request by itself.

Consistencey – the desire to be and appear consistent. By getting a student to agree to doing something increases the chances that the student will do that something.

Social validation – one fundamental way we decide what to do in a situation is to look at what others are doing. If many are doing it we will be more likely to do it.

Liking – People prefer  to say yes to those they like.

Authority – Compliance increases  significantly in the presence of authority. Symbols of authority such as a tie, a name badge, an emblem can make a big difference.

Scarcity – perceived scarcity increases perceived value, scarce information that is exclusive is more persuasive.

Motivating students to learn ( taken from  http://de.essortment.com/motivatingstude_rbsm.htm )

Parents and teachers all around the globe are pulling their hair out trying to understand why students seem less and less interested in school and school work. It used to be that the parent’s job was simply to outfit the child for school and get him there and ensure that homework was neatly done. The teacher’s job was to present the information and guide the students through the exercises. Those do not seem to work anymore. Both teachers and parents have to constantly come up with new strategies to ensure good academic performance of the students. It seems that they even have to resort to bribes sometimes.

Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of understanding of what really motivates students. Motivation is a difficult concept to define or explain. Motivation is generally understood as what arouses and sustains a particular behaviour. However, it is agreed that, for school purposes at least, there are two types of motivation- the extrinsic motivation and the intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation usually derives from external rewards- prizes, grades, tokens and wanting to do better than others. This leads to students performing solely for these rewards or to avoid shame or embarrassment. Intrinsic motivation comes from within. When a student is driven to do well for his own self-satisfaction in developing a skill, then the learning is more meaningful and long-lasting.

Motivation is optimized when :

· The person engages in the task for his own reason rather than in response to external pressure.

· The task is of appropriate level of challenge.

· There is sufficient choice.

How can parents and teachers set up learning environments to optimize these conditions? The answer to this question is wide and varied. Specific strategies could depend on various cultures and environments. But the following general principles must be applied:

1. The pressure on the student must be minimized, for example, remove the competition or social comparison; revise the grading system.

2. Ensure that the task is of an appropriate level of challenge for the student’s age and ability level. If it is too easy the student will be bored and un-motivated. A level of difficulty above the student’s ability could lead to frustration and giving up.

3. The task should also be meaningful and relevant to the learner. Students often comment “Why do I have to learn about….. I’ll never use this when I grow up!” The aim of the task should be to improve or gain some skill rather than rote memorization of irrelevant facts.

4. Appropriate use of rewards. Use praise liberally. Reward for effort and improvement and not just for performance.

5. Provide choice. Students will be more motivated to engage in a task if they have some say in what the task is, how it is to be carried out and presented. The more controlling the teacher is the less motivated the learner will be.

6. The structure of the learning exercise affects the level of motivation. There must be clear instructions given . The student must be sure of what is expected of him. Guidelines on how the task is to be performed must be specific and well understood. Immediate and useful feedback are crucial. A promptly returned assignment with comments indicating where the student went wrong and how he could improve is much more useful than a paper with only a B or C grade on it.

7. A supportive environment is a must. Students,( or anyone for that matter) do not perform or think well when they feel invalidated or threatened. The rapport that parents and teachers develop with the student must be one of ease and comfort-an encouraging word or tone of voice, a hand on the shoulder. These may seem to be trivial but the impact on the learning is great.

In short, when students are treated well, respected, encouraged and the work has meaning high levels of motivation will automatically develop.

Written by Marilyn Atherley

Sumarised from (  Kelton Rhoads, PhD, University of Southern California.  http://www.workingpsychology.com/definit.html ) 

Influence investigates the causes of human change--whether that change is a behavior, an attitude, or a belief. Inducing a change in behavior is called compliance. Inducing a change in attitude is called persuasion. Inducing a change in belief is called either education or propaganda--depending on your perspective.
Social influence is said to be employed by an agent or practitioner upon a target. The agent's message is called her advocacy. If your goal is to get your husband to stop overeating, you may seek compliance-- by getting him to stay out of the refrigerator--or you may influence him to internalize different eating habits, in which case he would be persuaded. You are the agent, your husband is the target, and your tactics or message would be your advocacy.

 Compliance is often a quick-fix solution to a social problem. Compliance doesn't require the target to agree with the advocacy--just simply perform the behavior.

 Persuasion attempts to win "the heart and mind" of the target. Thus persuasion must induce attitude change, which entails affective (emotion-based) change. Although persuasion is more difficult to induce, its effects last longer because the target actually accepts and internalizes the advocacy.

Education is the propagation of a set of beliefs, or Propaganda. We call it "education" if we already believe in it, and "propaganda" if we don't. Beliefs are things known or believed to be true, as opposed to attitudes, which are evaluations of objects that we think about. Beliefs are important precursors to both attitudes and behavior, but are often used or created after the fact to defend attitudes and behaviors we already own.

 Its everywhere

Other web sites – search www.google.com motivating students to learn.

Teaching tips index

http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm

EFFECTIVE TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

http://www.rit.edu/~609www/ch/faculty/effective5.htm

Behavior Influence Techniques

http://www.wm.edu/TTAC/articles/challenging/influence.html