Motivating Your Students from 3-103 year olds Deborah Stipek Stanford University

Engagement Behavioral Cognitive Emotional

‘ Think of two learning situations, one in which you were highly engaged (behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally) and one in which you were not. Aside from the subject, what qualities of the learning context explain the difference in your level of engagement (especially the level of cognitive and emotional engagement)?

Motivating Circumstances Qualities of Motivating Teachers Chose to be there Qualities of Motivating Teachers Credible Passionate, committed Sense of humor Respectful, caring, supportive Create a safe environment for mistakes/not knowing High expectations, but instills confidence

How do you demonstrate respect, care, and support and create a safe environment for making mistakes/not knowing? How do you convey high expectations, but instilled confidence, particularly in students who are struggling?

Qualities of Motivating Tasks/Instruction Goals are clear Relevance/usefulness is clear Choice Challenging but manageable Opportunities for collaboration Novel, not repetitive Active, involves discovery/problem-solving Multidimensional

Design one activity that you could use in one of your courses that involves active learning (simulation, debate, role playing, discovery, open-ended problem-solving) and would help students master the material. Be clear what your specific learning goal is and how you will assess whether the activity achieved you learning goal.

Qualities of Motivating Evaluation Frequent Constructive, substantive, informative Focused on learning, improving, mastery

How well do your current methods of evaluation meet the three criteria of frequent, informative, and focused on learning/mastery? What could you do to improve your evaluation on these dimensions?

Reasons for Engagement Extrinsic Motivation I do it to achieve a reward or avoid punishment (a good/bad grade) or recognition (prize, teacher approval) Internalized Motivation I should do it; being a conscientious student is part of my identity Intrinsic Motivation I enjoy doing it

Intrinsic Interest in Learning

Motivating Contexts School Chose to be there Choice in tasks and strategies Personally meaningful Tasks: challenging but manageable real life–like (authentic) active multidimensional problem solving Focus is on learning, developing skill, getting smart Teacher’s role is to help you learn Classmates helpful, supportive School Attendance required Little choice Unrelated to personal life Tasks – too easy or too difficult inauthentic passive simple, right-or-wrong answers Focus is on performing, looking smart Teacher’s role – to help, control & evaluate Classmates independent or competitive I’m going to show you a video that reminds me of many classes I have observed -- it’s a bit extreme, but not so far from what is common, especially at the high school level

Test What rules of motivating instruction does this professor violate?