Tapping into the Learner's Motivation

            How can we keep our students engaged and motivated in their learning? This is a question that runs through the minds of all teachers as we see the presence of children who are all different in our classroom and as we see students begin to fade away during lessons that don’t draw their interest. When trying to answer this question, teachers are constantly looking for motivational strategies. According to Guilloteaux and Dornyei (2008) motivational strategies are instructional interventions applied by the teacher to elicit and stimulate motivation and self-regulating strategies that are purposefully used by students to manage their own level of motivation. According to Drake, Reid and Kolohon (2014) when you tap into a learner’s motivation it can also increase their engagement and the way assessment is delivered which is important due to links between motivation, effort and identity in the classroom. Motivation is important in sustaining the long and sometimes tedious learning process and is often created by classroom factors such as tasks, learning activities and instructional materials. In order for learners to display their motivated behaviours they must be motivated to a certain extent. This motivation is mainly shaped by the learning process, whether the activities/lessons presented are meaningful to them and whether the learners feel comfortable expressing their learning in the classroom (Huang, 2011).  In my opinion I believe that one of the most important factors in motivating students if providing them with information that is meaningful to them. I think that this strategy is more likely to draw in students attention as if they believe the content they are learning will benefit them or if it interests them, they are more likely to be motivated to put in their best effort. Edutopia presents four important strategies for helping students to regulate their motivation.



http://www.mindmapart.com/get-motivated-mind-map-jane-genovese/

            The video below is a Ted Talk presented by Peter Gardenfors on how to motivate students. Gardenfors begins this video by stating findings that say that the majority of high school students find school boring and uses this to discuss why this is and how we can change this. The main reason discussed for the reasoning students find school boring is hidden rules. Hidden rules are rules that are not explicitly stated, but are used in a way to make all students similar which consequently blocks motivation and does not allow everyone to fit in. Gardenfors believes that motivation is the way to change students thinking through curiosity, cooperation, control, peer learning and metacognition.

 

References

Drake, S.M., Reid, J.L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21^st century learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Guilloteaux, M.J., & Dornyei, Z. (2008). Motivating language learners: A classroom-oriented investigation of the effects of motivational strategies on student motivation. Tesol Quarterly, 42(1), 55-77.

Huang, K.M. (2011). Motivating lessons: A classroom-oriented investigation of the effects of content-based instruction on EFL young learners motivated behaviours and classroom verbal interaction. Science Direct, 186-201.

Inquiry-Based Learning

                Inquiry-based learning uses a backwards design that interweaves assessment into curriculum and learning. An inquiry based classroom should promote create problem solving that is driven by student’s asking questions and gathering evidence to make sense of their world (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). When you enter an inquiry-based learning environment you should not expect a silent classroom with students sitting in rows, you should expect to hear the sound of students who are actively learning and engaged by asking questions, using critical thinking and problem solving. In this environment the teacher is not standing up at the front of the class lecturing, but is a rather a part of learning, acting as a guide in students exploration who using learning prompts, while also learning alongside the students (Wu, Tseng & Hwang, 2015). Inquiry-based learning should foster deep engagement in students that leads to constant collaborative learning (Sinha, Rogat, Adams-Wiggins & Hmelo-Silver, 2015). I believe that it is important for teachers to work towards inquiry-based learning because it offers the opportunity to move education away from standardized testing and towards an enriching environment that creates an educational community through collaboration. Inquiry-based learning is a constant cycle that encourages students to ask questions, investigate, create, discuss and reflect upon their learning. This cycle will allow for students interests to be incorporated into learning by teachers using questions as lesson prompts and will allow students to use their learning as a way to make sense of the world.

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The video below is a Ted Talk that was done by Brad Chumrau on inquiry-based learning. Brad taught in the German education system for four years where he was introduced to the idea as using the classroom as a sense of community and a place for collaboration. The Primary Year Program implemented in Germany forced teachers to collaborate to create relevant lessons which sky-rocketed student engagement.

 

Finally, this video shows a practical perspective on inquiry based learning in elementary classrooms from an elementary teacher and a program coordinator. It discusses how an inquiry-based learning environment is based on the curiosity of the students and that all students have this drive within them to always be questioning. The goal is to ignite passion within students by allowing them to explore something that they are interested in, with the teacher there as a guide for learning.

 

 

References

Drake, S.M., Reid, J.L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21^st century learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Sinha, S., Rogat, T.K., Adams-Wiggins, K.R., & Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2015). Collaborative group engagement in a computer supported inquiry learning environment. International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 10, 273-307. doi: 10.1007/s11412-015-9218-y

Wu, J.W., Tseng, J.C., & Hwang, G.J. (2015). Development of an inquiry-based learning support system based on an intelligent knowledge exploration approach. Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 282-300.

 

 

Technology in the 21st Century Classroom

            “The twenty-first-century classroom is a connected networked classroom” (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014, p.24). This is due to the increasing relevance of technology in education and the involvement of technology in everyday life. Although many schools are enthusiastic about bringing technology into the classroom, there are others who are cautious about it as it can become uncomfortable when students know more about it than teachers. Despite the presence of discomfort, resistance to integrating technology into the classroom can be detrimental to the learning of today’s students (Drake et al., 2014). Technology can be used to improve education by providing support to difficult subjects by integrating the interests of students. It can be useful for making teaching and learning easier by bringing a new and fun aspect to the classroom that enriches and deepens skills and motivates and engages students (Safitry et al., 2015). This can be shown through Blooms Digital Taxonomy which shows through the below pyramid how technology can be implemented through each aspect of education using different tools and websites (Drake et al., 2014).

           With the increasing relevance of technology it is important that teachers are provided with the opportunities to understand how to use developmental technologies in order to create a positive attitude towards them. This can be done through content based workshops that discuss how to integrate tools such as the internet, smartboards, computer simulations and educational software into lesson plans (Acikalin, 2014). It is important to me that teachers are properly trained in the use of these technologies because I did not grow up in a classroom that had access to resources like these. As a future teacher I hope to be able to utilize technology to adapt to my students individual learning needs and to create student interest in subjects they might otherwise not have an interest in. Concordia Online Education discusses five ways SMART boards can be used to improve learning in the classroom. I believe that technology in the classroom is also important because it allows for the use of virtual field trips which connect students to experts and other classrooms around the world. The video below is an example of a twenty-first-century grade one and two classroom that has widely integrated technology into their curriculum. This video shows how bringing technology into the classroom can bring joy to students learning by integrating their interests and providing them with access to material and experts beyond their teacher that would not be available without technology.  

                                                           References

Acikalin, F.S. (2014). Use of instructional technologies in science classrooms: Teachers' perspectives. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 13(2), 197-201.

Drake, S.M., Reid, J.L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press.

Safitry, T.S., Mantoro, T., Ayu, M.A., Mayumi, I., Dewanti, R., & Azmeela, S. (2015). Teachers perspectives and practices in applying technology to enhance learning in the classroom. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 10(3), 10-14. doi:10.3991/ijet.v10i3.4356