Intrinsically Motivated For A Lifetime Of Learning

1. Intrinsically Motivated For A
Lifetime Of Learning
How to foster authentic student motivation and
build a classroom of engaged, tenacious learners
Relatedness
Relatedness refers to the desire to feel connected to and
cared for by others. Research shows that social isolation and
loneliness are linked to student anxiety, lower intellectual
achievement, diminished self-control, and poorer health. But
when students feel a sense of belonging, they experience
more meaningful relationships, higher self-esteem, better
academic performance, and improved well-being.
• Hinton recommends the use of guided partner or group
projects to help students feel connected to one another.
• Callahan boosts relatedness by reducing the physical
separation between teacher and students in the classroom.
He removes his teacher’s desk and structures his
classroom in a U-shape, so he can move around the circle
regularly. “Students respond to that level of relatedness,
because they’re not interested in being managed or
told what to do. I share knowledge with them and draw
knowledge from them,” Callahan says.
• This strategy also helps students feel connected to one
another by providing them with a safe environment to ask
questions, discuss ideas, and take risks.
Source: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/09/intrinsically-motivated
Intriguing research shows that when students have
intrinsic motives for learning — when they engage not
for external reward but because they find the activity
itself interesting and gratifying — they become more
likely to attach meaning to their work, explore new
topics, and persist in the face of learning challenges.
These core principles provide a useful framework for
teachers seeking to create a learning environment that
supports student motivation.
Autonomy in Learning
When students have a sense of control over their
learning, their intrinsic motivation improves; they are
likely to persist at tedious academic tasks, and they
learn to process information at a deeper level.
To support students’ autonomy, teachers can
encourage them to set their own learning objectives,
contribute to course material, and use learning
techniques that work best for them.
One key way to support autonomy is to give students
choices, according to Christina Hinton, the executive
director of Research Schools International.
• Instead of assigning students a specific book to
read, allow students to select from a reading list.
• Rather than having all students write an essay,
offer them the opportunity to demonstrate their
understanding through digital and other mediums.
To balance students’ desires for both autonomy and structure,
Hinton suggests optional autonomy.
“I’ve learned to provide my graduate students with structure
for everything, but also give them the option to opt out of that
structure and learn in alternative ways that work best for them
whenever they would like,” she says.
Thomas Callahan, the director of the Merck-Horton Center for
Teaching and Learning at St. George’s School in Rhode Island,
promotes autonomy by structuring his high school psychology
course around the interests of his students. “I work with
students to determine what we will do, how we will do it, and
how it will be meaningful to them,” he says. “Students have to
‘own’ the material, so they want more.”
Competence
Students need to be challenged by schoolwork and know
that expectations are high, but they also need a sense of
competence — a feeling that they are equipped to meet these
challenges and standards. Studies have shown that once
students perceive themselves as competent in learning class
material, they develop more intrinsic learning motives, even in
the face of obstacles.
• Teachers can cultivate competence by introducing activities
that are optimally challenging.
• Teachers can provide noncritical feedback, along with
information on how to master the task.
• For instance, Callahan asks his students to identify
challenging vocabulary words they’ve encountered in their
coursework. Next, he presents effective strategies for using
flashcards to learn vocabulary. Students then practice in the
classroom and at home, and they are tested on the strategy,
rather than on whether they were able to memorize a long
list of words.
“My goal is to give them the tools to be competent — not just tell
them ‘nice job,’” he says. “I want to show them how to learn so
that they can demonstrate competence.”