Amy Gilvin, Carissa Hosea, Jordan Mallory, Angela Braun

Motivation The driving force by which humans achieve their goals. -What makes us want to do something Ex: Our motivation for schoolwork is to learn and get good grades.

Types of Motivation Extrinsic Motivation: When a person does something to earn a reward. Example: A student behaves well all week so that he can go to the treasure chest on Friday. Intrinsic Motivation: When a person does something to satisfy themselves not only for an external reward. Example: A student reads a book for enjoyment.

Pros and Cons of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Intrinsic Extrinsic Pros The student enjoys doing something. Cons The student might get off task with homework because they only focus on what they want to do because they enjoy that more. Pros The student is motivated to do work because they want a reward. Cons When rewards stop coming, the student is not motivated anymore.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs As teachers, we need to make sure our students basic needs are met before we can motivate them to learn. Ex: Make sure all your students have had breakfast whether it is at home or at school even if its through the free/reduced lunch program. Make sure they get enough sleep and feel like they are in a safe environment. These basic needs must be met before they can focus on learning and higher level needs in the hierarchy.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Piaget Piaget says that motivation is influenced by the students being able to adapt to their learning environment. Ex: Have fun posters around the classroom to make the students feel comfortable. Welcome the students as they enter the room. Let the students communicate and be themselves in the classroom. The room should be a place they want to come to and it should be somewhere they feel safe and comfortable sharing and talking with the teacher and with others.

Atkinson Atkinson says that students’ motivation is influenced by attaining a certain goal. Ex: Students read A.R. books because they have to gain a certain amount of points a month.

Class Observation Grade level: 1 st grade Subject: Math Number of Students: 15 Length of observation: 45 minutes Students demographics: 10 White, 2 Latina, and 3 African Americans.

Class Observation To get the students attention, the teacher played a math song and the students sang along. Then the teacher wrote math problems on the board and the students answered the math problems on their desk with a dry erase marker.

Class Observation The motivation that this teacher used is extrinsic because the students were rewarded with writing on their desks for completing a math problem. She also used Piaget’s theory of letting the students adapt to their environment by letting them write on their desks.

Argument For students to be motivated, they need to have a positive environment where they can easily adapt and have attainable goals just like the 1 st grade class that we observed and supported by Maslow, Piaget, and Atkinson.

Quiz 1. Motivation is the driving force in which humans achieve their goals a. True b. False 2. If Billy gets piece of candy for completing his homework, what kind of motivation is this? a. Intrinsicb. Extrinsic 3. Sally takes violin lessons and practices every night, what type of motivation is this? a. Intrinsicb. Extrinsic 4. Which theorist came up with the hierarchy of needs? a. Maslowb. Piagetc. Atkinson 5. Which theorist said “Motivation is influenced by the students being able to adapt to their learning environment”? a. Maslowb. Piagetc. Atkinson

Quiz, cont. 6. Which theorist said that student’s “motivation is influenced by attaining a certain goal”? a. Maslowb. Piagetc. Atkinson 7. Which type of motivation can cause students to get off task with homework? a. Intrinsicb. Extrinsic 8. Which type of motivation can cause students to not be motivated when rewards are not given? a. Intrinsic b. Extrinsic 9. Is Robert going to be motivated to do well on his test when he has not eaten breakfast? a. Yes b. No 10. In order to meet the average first grade reading level by the end of the nine weeks, Billy’s teacher is forcing him to read a second grade level book. Is this a good motivation tactic? a. Yes b. No

Quiz Answers 1. A 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. B 6. C 7. A 8. B 9. B 10. B

Works Cited Snowman & McCowan. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching (13 th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.