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Eric Calvert

ASCD Infobrief:Student Engagement:Motivating Students to Learn - 0 views

www.ascd.org/...ivating-Students-to-Learn.aspx

ascd motivation engagement

shared by Eric Calvert on 01 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Although research attests that students are most likely to be engaged in learning when they are active and given some choice and control over the learning process—and when the curriculum is individualized, authentic, and related to students' interests—surveys of classroom practices reveal that instruction emphasizing student passivity, rote learning, and routine is the rule rather than the exception (Goodlad, 1984; Yair, 2000).
  • What is student engagement? According to Fred Newmann, author of Student Engagement and Achievement in American Secondary Schools (1992), engaged students make a “psychological investment in learning. They try hard to learn what school offers. They take pride not simply in earning the formal indicators of success (grades), but in understanding the material and incorporating or internalizing it in their lives” (pp. 2–3). According to this definition, an engaged student is one who is intrinsically motivated to learn—that is, motivated from a desire for competence and understanding, or simply from a love of learning, rather than a desire for a good grade, a teacher's approval, or acceptance into a good college.
  • For example, humans are driven by a need to achieve competence (Newmann, Wehlage, & Lamborn, 1992), and their beliefs or expectations about their ability to perform certain tasks successfully influence future learning. When learners perceive that they have been successful at an endeavor, they are more likely to be motivated to learn in the future and to persist when faced with a difficult task; conversely, when learners have a history of failure, it becomes difficult to sustain the motivation to keep trying (Anderman & Midgley, 1998).
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  • Humans also need to feel securely connected to others and “worthy and capable of love and respect” (Stipek, 1996, p. 101). They are motivated to achieve when they feel that they are able to make a positive contribution to the group (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999).
  • Similarly, humans are driven to exercise control over their own activities, and children are more likely to be motivated to learn when they believe that their actions are internally initiated and when they have opportunities to regulate their own actions or make choices (Alderman, 1999; McCombs, n.d.; Sheldon & Biddle, 1998). Learners who do not believe that they have control or choice are less likely to expend the effort necessary to learn.
  • Researchers agree that schools that maximize student engagement should have the following characteristics:
  • Each student should have a curriculum at an appropriate level of difficulty, and teachers must have high but achievable expectations for all students (Alderman, 1999; Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Learning First Alliance, 2001). Instructional tasks should be of “intermediate difficulty”; they should be “tasks that students can complete but only with some effort, so as to engender feelings of increasing competence and pride” (Stipek, 1996, p. 89). Students should also be provided with clear, frequent, and constructive feedback so that they are able to see growth in their capacities and skills (McCombs, n.d.; Stipek, 1996; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).
  • Schools should encourage students to take responsibility for “regulating their own learning and for being self-determined and autonomous learners,” for when choices are given to students, “the evidence is clear that student motivation, learning, and performance are enhanced” (McCombs, n.d., pp. 7–8). Researchers emphasize that the choices students receive must be authentic—and not token measures intended to pacify students.
  • Schools should organize themselves as communities that foster caring relationships between all members of the school community and treat all members fairly. Students are motivated to learn when they believe that their teachers care about their education and about them personally; therefore, they must have opportunities to share their ideas and perspectives, and schools must demonstrate to them that their perspectives are valued (McCombs, n.d., pp. 8–9). They should create a sense of community and common purpose; at the same time, they should recognize the diversity and individuality of each member of the community.
  • Teachers should make connections between students' prior knowledge and experiences and illustrate the connection between the curriculum and the real world (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999). Rather than emphasizing that students learn material because it will be on the test, teachers should underscore the relevance of classroom instruction to students' personal lives and future aspirations (Ormond, 1995; Sheldon & Biddle, 1998).
  • According to McCombs (n.d.), many students do not See the current educational content and practices as intrinsically interesting and engaging or relevant to their desired goals and personal interests. They also do not see the context as one that supports basic personal and social needs, such as to be self-determining, competent, and connected to others. (p. 4)
  • Ark and Wagner (2000) write, “Our collective and idealized memory” of schools “may be the greatest impediment that we face” (p. 3).
  • Sheldon and Biddle (1998) observe an unfortunate paradox arising from the accountability movement: Although maximal student growth may be the goal, if student attention is focused on tests that measure that growth, or on sanctions that reward or punish it, that growth will not be maximized. In contrast, if students are challenged, if their interests in the subject matter are encouraged, if they are given autonomy support, then their intrinsic interests, their motivation for learning, and their test scores will all grow more effectively.
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