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DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION (definition_of_motivation[1].doc)

Definition of Motivation

MOTIVATION is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior. Motivation is the key to a student’s school success and is the driving force behind successful learning.

Student motivation is a student’s desire to participate in the learning process. It is the meaningfulness, value, and benefits that an academic task has to the learner. It is also defined as a student’s drive from within which guides, activates, and continues a behavior over time. It is simply a student’s willingness, need, desire, and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in the learning process.

In order for a student to be motivated, they need to have a positive attitude towards learning.

Many factors affect a student’s motivation to learn, such as their interest in the subject, their fear of failure, why the information is useful to them, a general desire to achieve, their self-esteem, and self-confidence.

There are 2 types of motivation:

Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Due to repeated failures, many learning disabled (LD) students lack intrinsic motivation, which is a student’s desire to learn for the sake of learning.

Intrinsic motivation is important for the student so that they may gain personal joy in learning. Extrinsic motivation is important for the student to gain parent or  teacher approval, good grades, and rewards.

Students need to be involved with their own learning rather than being just a passive learner.

Achievement motivation comes in different forms. One such form is the desire to win. Another form of motivation to achieve a goal is the fear of losing. Being a high achiever depends on how you set your goals and what your motivation is. It also depends on how you were raised. People can change their view of achievement depending on outside factors.

M O T I V A T I N G    STUDENTS

Some students seem naturally enthusiastic about learning, but many need or expec their instructors to inspire, challenge, and stimulate them. Ericksen says: "Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher's ability ... to maintain the interest that brought students to the course in the first place.”

Unfortunately, there is no single magical formula for motivating students.

Many factors affect a given student's motivation to work and to learn:  interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence. And, of course, not all students are motivated by the same values, needs, desires, or wants. Some of your students will be motivated by the approval of others, some by overcoming challenges.

To encourage students to become self-motivated independent learners, teachers can do the following:

1. Give frequent, early, positive feedback that supports students' beliefs that they can do well
2. Ensure opportunities for students’ success by assigning tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult
3. Help students find personal meaning and value in the material
4. Create an atmosphere that is open and positive

Help students feel that they are valued members of a learning group.

Some Ideas for Motivating Students

1. Explain. Teachers should spend more time explaining why we teach what we do, and why the topic or approach or activity is important and interesting and worthwhile. In the process, some of the teacher's enthusiasm will be transmitted to the students, who will be more likely to become interested

2. Reward. Students who do not yet have powerful intrinsic motivation to learn can be helped by extrinsic motivators in the form of rewards. Rather than criticizing unwanted behavior or answers, reward correct behavior and answers. The rewards can be small and configured to the level of the students. Small children can be given a balloon, a piece of gum, or a set of crayons.

3. Care. Students will attend to an adult who appears to be a "real person," who had problems as a youth (or more recently) and survived them.

4. Have students participate. It is better to get students involved in activities, group problem solving exercises, helping to decide what to do and the best way to do it, helping the teacher, working with each other, or in some other way getting physically involved in the lesson.

5. Teach. Inductively. presenting conclusions first and then providing examples robs students of the joy of discovery. By beginning with the examples, evidence, stories, and so forth and arriving at conclusions later, you can maintain interest and increase motivation

6. Make learning visual. Use drawings, diagrams, pictures, charts, graphs, videos, even three-dimensional objects you can bring to class to help students.

7. Use positive emotions to enhance learning and motivation. People remember better when the learning is accompanied by strong emotions.

My suggestions for teaching in classrooms:

1. Show your students that you take an interest in them and that they belong in your classroom

2. Use own experiences

3. Try to make learning interesting by emphasizing activity, investigation, usefulness

4. Make use of objectives that are challenging and that involve student input