Components of Motivation to Learn - Literature review Example

Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Motivation to learning is paramount to any learner. Sources of motivation are paramount and complex. This paper discusses both internal and external sources of motivation in addition to principles of motivation. The paper also highlights how to apply them in a classroom set up. The applications of motivation are limited only to one’s imagination. The second part of this paper discusses intelligence in learning. The paper discusses the different mental traits, and how they are used to determine intelligence. The paper also handles different ways of measuring intelligent quotient in addition to development of intelligence to students in a classroom set up. Motivation in learning Motivation can be defined as both internal and external drive directing towards an end. A number of motivation techniques that have great bearing techniques toward the learner have been suggested below. Components of motivation to learn Curiosity Behaviorists suggest that reward and punishment are the main influences to learning but this is not true. Behavior can be directed towards getting a reward and getting punishment. Human behavior is much more complex and it includes curiosity. Many learners tend to be curious and tend to seek for more information. Learners tend to attain satisfaction by solving puzzles, learning new things, and perfecting their skills and competence. Research indicates that providing students and learners with stimuli that is not far much different from what they already know and have idea with stimulates the level of curiosity in them. However, if students are provided with stimuli that they are not familiar with, it can lead to anxiety and not curiosity. As an instructor,it is important to ask students to solve problems and quizzes rather than presenting to them statements and facts. Curiosity is considered a motive to learn and it is intrinsic therefore continued rewarding is not the only way of motivation. Attitude The attitude of a learner is an intrinsic characteristic and does not necessary depend on the behavior of a student. Positive behaviors that may be exhibited by the students in front of the teachers might not be necessary available if the teacher is absent. In this case, we can say that behavior is contrary to attitude. Fleming and Levy (Levy, 1993) suggests three approaches that can lead to attitudinal change. Their first suggestion talks of providing persuasive message to the learner. Their nest suggestion is modeling and reinforcing appropriate behavior by creation of dissonance between affective, cognitive, and behavioral components of the attitude. In summary Levy and Fleming suggests that if a student is induced to perform an act, which is contrary to the student’s own attitude, attitude change is likely to take place. Need In order for effective motivation to occur, the needs of the learner need consideration. It is for this reason that education planners and analysts must consider the needs of the learners while developing the curriculum. Although the needs of the learners vary from place to place Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been greatly utilized by many scholars while developing curriculum. Maslow suggests that the lower needs must be satisfied before moving to the next level. Education is amongst the highest levels of needs and therefore cannot be satisfied if the lower levels have not been attained. Instructors are advised to ensure that they attend to individual needs of the learners since not all learners are the same in a classroom set up. Competency Competency is another component of motivation that is much related to self-efficacy. Learners in order for motivation to occur must possess an intrinsic characteristic. Learners will achieve pleasure by doing things well and succeeding. However, instructors must provide challenges that learners are able to go through in order for them to prove their competence. Prerequisite learning is important in promotion of skill and development in promoting competency in the field of learning. As students develop competency they also develop intrinsic motivational power which is necessary for learning. External motivators Stimulation of learning environment is possible by proving a wide variety of instruction methods, learning materials, and presentation styles (Slaving, 2009). Grades in school have external motivation value if they are well planned in consideration of the motivation theory. Reinforcement is another external motivational component. The proponent of this of this approach B.F Skinner identified different types of reinforcers. According to Skinner positive reinforcement, which are regarded as rewards, have the ability to increase the probability of a given behavior. Negative reinforcers on the other hand are consequences that increase the probability of a given behavior by removing or reducing some negative stimuli. Skinner defines punishment as the unpleasant consequences that decrease the probability of a given behavior. The instructors work is simple regarding the above-suggested definitions according to B.F Skinner. The work of teacher is simply to use good grades and rewards to reward desired behavior and bad grades and reduced privileges to punish bad behavior. Some research suggests that motivation has increased differentiation with age both in subjects and across the school. Eccles and Wigfield (2002) noted that children will tend to attach more value to subjects they achieved more success in the previous grade or levels. In a longitudinal study involving children’s study for math and reading, observed information, indicate that motivation for learning math with direct and uniquely predicted by previous math achievement. The research further suggests that children aged between 5-7 years don’t differentiate subject areas while children between age 8-11 have clear conscious towards their subjects and will tend to place their motivational value in the subjects mostly succeeded(Guay, 2010). Self-efficacy Students that harbor doubts about their ability to learn are not motivated. Instructors must learn to divide tasks into chunks and provide students with success as early as possible in order to develop confidence in their students. Vicarious experience is also included when dealing with self-efficacy. It involves a student observing a role model attaining success. Psychological states of a student are not easy to manipulate but instructors can create relaxation and ease tension for their students. Collaborative or corporate learning methods may increasestudent’s motivation and how they are involved in different tasks. Teachers that are interested in using such tasks such involve use of mixed ability groups that represents narrow range of abilities and structures and roles that independently sort the students. Classroom environment is another factor that is considered a very powerful motivation factor. Use of goal oriented classroom structures, promotion of appropriate attributions have helped in promoting motivational learning. Several challenge of measuring motivation does exist. For example, cognitive measurement of motivation is difficult since cognitive abilities cannot be observed. However,use of behavioral indicators has been used in testing the motivational levels. Intelligence As an instructor, you have probably noticed a difference at the rate through which students and learners complete their tasks. At this point one must realize that children intelligence vary despite being raised and born within the same environment. Parents and teachers are bombarded with various questions regarding the intelligence differences experienced in classroom and at home. Parents keep on wondering if their children can learn more and more than they do while teachers struggle to find out ways in which they can present good learning environment and conditions for their learners in order to improve their intelligence. Constructivists theories of learning emphasizes on active and autonomous role for the learners to actively participate in construction of their own through interaction with the environment in which the knowledge of the domain is not separate from its context. Intelligent systems of education have supported the uses of artificial intelligence with regard to the following three domains: presentation of knowledge to be learned, inference of the learner is state of knowledge and planning of instructional steps to be followed by the learner. Emotional intelligence is positive and exciting model that has been used in improving motor, psychomotor and cognitive of learners. It has helped teachers and students to develop their professionalism and have helped them in attaining higher grades. The learned ability of emotional intelligence integrates well with student development model of education and historical values of the student personnel point of view. The genetic factor and the structure of the abilities Some intelligence theorists point to the stability of the alleged general factor in human intelligence as evidence for the existence of some kind of stable and overriding factor in human intelligence(Buchner, 2006). The existence of the genetic factor with regard to intelligence is important in differentiating the abilities a student may have and expertise developed in school. With the different schooling, background the genetic factor of intelligence can be made either stronger or weaker. The theory of crystallized and fluid intelligence suggests that fluid ability is ability to acquire and reason with information while crystallized ability is viewed as the ability so acquired. According to this theory,schooling partly develops the crystallized ability, based upon which a person the fluid ability a person is able to develop school like tasks. It is also important to understand that fluid abilities offer many gains than the crystallized abilities. This therefore means that fluid abilities are much more susceptible to environmental changes than crystallized abilities. Intelligence is also directly related to the type of environment a child grows. In a research conducted in the streets of America, it was noted that children who were on the streets developed good mathematical skills for survival within the streets, but when a conventional test of paper and pen were presented the kids could not make it. Similarly, children that had familiarized with mathematical conventional test could barely survive the street life. This correlation shows that, intelligence depends on the environment. While a context, theory allows system of to perceive basic interaction in situations it is an interaction theory that helps in interpreting these theories. The role of interaction is to help formalize the various ways through which the three aspects of interaction which are the cognitive structures involved with learning and interaction, nature of the activity developed by the learner in the situation combined to give meaning to learning interactions and the situation in which learning occurs. The interpretation of context, activity and cognitive is a basic step in order to understand the extended time processes of interaction. Therefore, the role of an extended time theory process of interaction is to support reasoning about the process of learning in a broader sense that includes interactions with temporal values. When students get tested for analytical abilities in line with practicability and creativity from a successful model of intelligence, the strong general factor resulting from multiple ability tests become much weaker. A model of teaching that departs from notions of abilities and general factors has proved very successful. In a recent study third grade students, middle grade and eight grade students all coming from a lower socioeconomic class were taught social studies for intelligent analytical, creativity and practicability performed better that students who were taught critically thinking just for the memory. However, this does not mean that analytical learning is not important in life. It therefore means that teaching of students highly developed expertise results in superior learning outcomes. Children taught expertise of memorizing perform better than children taught for normal memory do. Developing expertise applies not only to the constructs measured by conventional intelligence tests but also by practically taking part in the test. Conclusion Intelligence tests measure expertise. Tests can be created to favor the kinds of developing expertise formed in any kind of cultural and subcultural environment. The most disadvantaging factor with the tests developed is that they are mostly developed to favor the western education. In addition to this, conventional tests in school only measure small kind of developing expertise, which are not enough for substantial success in life. Conventional tests only accounts for 10% success into adult life. It is therefore important that various scientists get to work of developing more appropriate range of intelligence with the varying cultural and geographical difference in the world. Achievement of this strategy will help in analyzing and developing a student into a successful person with both cognitive and technical expertise necessary for survival in life. Bibliography Buchner, K. (2006). Education Psychology for Learning and Teaching. Melbourne Victoria Australia: Thomson South. Guay, e. a. (2010). instrinsic identified, and controlled types of motivation for school subjects in young elementary school children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 80 Issue No 4 711-735. Levy, M. F. (1993). Instructional Message Desingn, Principles from the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences . New Jersy: Englewood Cliffs. Slaving, R. (2009). Psychology Theory and practice 9th Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Read More