Motivation: a construct used to explain the initiation, direction, & intensity of an individual’s behavior in a particular situation Theories of Motivation  Computational Theory of Mind 1.Initial States 2.Monitoring Processing during Problem-Solving 3.Goal State  Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation  Distributed Cognition Instructional Implications Motivation

Initial State Goals Means-End Beliefs Possible Emotions Expectations Values Computational Theory of Mind Monitoring Processes during Problem-Solving Monitoring Standards Self-Efficacy Ability Beliefs Interest Goal State Causal Attribution Emotions Felt

Goals: What are they? Goal = something a person would like to accomplish by engaging in a particular activity Tend to direct or guide behavior  Often start off vague  Only start directing behavior after more specific  Often remain implicit until queried Types  Learning vs. Performance  Academic vs. Social Computational Theory of Mind: Goals are presumed inherently cognitive (they are mental representations of some future state of affairs)

Learning vs.Performance Goals Learning goals = to understand something, gain mastery over a skill, feel competent Performance goals = to gain approval of (or look better than) others, gain rewards, avoid criticism Effects on Performance & Learning: Students with learning goals…  seek challenging tasks that develop their competencies  see teacher as a resource or guide  process information at a deeper level than… Students with performance goals…  choose tasks that will make them look competent  see teacher as evaluator who will reward/punish  do not process information as deeply As individuals age, they seem to shift from learning goals to performance goals (ouch)

Academic vs. Social Goals Academic goals = being a successful student, learning / understanding new things, doing the best you can, getting things done on time Social goals = earning approval of others, having fun, making friends, helping others, being dependable / responsible Effects on Performance & Learning: Specific social goals are strongly related to academic goals Which? Being helpful, responsible, & compliant Why? More frequent & positive interactions with teachers & peers  more likely to achieve Not all social goals are related to success in school  Students with goal of “having fun” in school typically have low GPAs As individuals age, they seem to shift from academic goals to social goals (hmmm)

Monitoring Processes Self-efficacy beliefs = your beliefs regarding whether or not you have the ability to perform some task  Developed through experiences of having their actions produce numerous successes & fewer failures  Older children often feel more self-efficacy than younger ones (duh) Ability beliefs = your general sense of your skill in an area  Combine hierarchically to form individual’s self-concept    Self-concept becomes increasingly differentiated with age  Self-concept declines during adolescence & then rises again   Effects on Performance & Learning: High self-efficacy leads to greater effort, persistence & quality of problem-solving tasks  accounts for 14% of variance in academic achievement in schoolchildren High ability beliefs leads to greater willingness to choose challenging tasks & greater persistence in fact of failure

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation Intrinsic Motivation = engaging in the behavior to feel competent, gain mastery, or satisfy their curiosity Extrinsic Motivation = engaging in the behavior to receive praise, gain tangible reward, or avoid punishment Locus of Control:  When intrinsically motivated, YOU are in control.  When extrinsically motivated, OTHERS are in control. Effects on Performance & Learning: People are naturally inclined to seek feelings of competence, gain control over their environment, set challenges for themselves, & satisfy curiosity BUT its relatively easy to make someone intrinsically motivated into someone extrinsically motivated – frequent introduction of external rewards (tangible or intangible), punishments, use of competition and/or social comparisons

Distributed Cognition Goals  A student’s goals & intentions are socially & culturally situated  Need to examine relationships between the learner (identity) & the community of practice (context) Motivation  NOT a ‘factor’ with ‘components’ inside the person  It is an emergent property between the learner & their context  NOT a matter of high/low, intrinsic/extrinsic  ALL learners are motivated – they just may not be motivated in the ways that educators want them to be  It is an issue of engaging learners in activity when there are competing or differing goals & intentions The official learning goals may not be compelling to learners or may be at odds with their identities as learners (e.g. Scollen, 1981)

Instructional Implications Computational Theory of Mind Help students acquire and coordinate appropriate goals (learning goals, academic & social goals) Provide devices to help them monitor their progress (charts, assessments, & other forms of feedback) Point out to students their control over their successes (develop appropriate expectations, high self-efficacy) Distributed Cognition What kinds of identities does your learning environment engage with? What kinds of identities might your students bring to it? How might your goals align or conflict with learners’ goals? Are there ways to get them better aligned? How do the activities in your classroom intersect with students’ lived experiences outside of class? X

Activity Let’s compare two learning environments – one informal, one formal.

Informal Learning Environment: MMOGs Highly graphical 2- or 3-D videogames Online social interaction Persistent virtual worlds Real-time, perpetually accessible Loosely structured by open-ended (fantasy) narratives, but… Players free to do as they please “Escapist fantasy” yet emergent “social realism” (Kolbert, 2001)  A learning environment?!

Socially & materially distributed cognition They are sites of distributed social & material cognition.

Collaborative Problem Solving Complex collaborative problem-solving.

Negotiation of Meaning Where meaning is negotiated…

Within comm.of practice Within / across emergent communities of practice.

Apprenticeship & Enculturation So, yes, they ARE learning environments. Complex & challenging ones, in fact.

cigarette And they are so motivating, psychiatrists worry about ‘addiction.’

Critique of school Yet, no one worries about ‘addiction’ to school.

But more compelling Why would an informal learning environment (like an MMOG) be so much more engaging than a formal one (like the K-12 classroom)? Compare / contrast the two.

Ability Beliefs general competenceacademicnon-academic mathenglishhistoryetc.socialemotionalphysical 

Self Concept  (Marsh, 1989)