JoinMotivation
By MsMentorAdmin
Posted on 2009-04-30
It seems like it’s getting harder to motivate students. What can we do?
— Roseanna, Beaverton, Oregon
I’ve found we cannot motivate others; motivation comes from within the individual. We can threaten, cajole, plead, or reward students into doing what we want, but the ultimate decision on how much to participate is made by the student. A professor of mine would say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink… But you can salt the oats.”
That’s what teachers can do – salt the oats so students will want to be engaged in the class, not just busy and compliant (or off-task). I asked several science teachers what they do to “salt the oats.”
- Share your own interests, experience, or passion for the topic. I asked a teacher what she does if the topic is not of great interest to her. She said because we never know what will spark something in a student, we have to at least pretend to be interested ourselves. So teachers who say, “This next unit is pretty dull, but we have to cover it for the test,” are not setting the stage to engage students.
- Use a theme or big idea to connect the topics in a unit. For example, in a unit on animals, a life science teacher might posit, “Animals respond to their surroundings in a variety of ways.” She connects each lesson back to this theme and students use their science notebooks to record their observations, thoughts, and drawings.
- Help students relate the lesson to current events, to their own lives, or to other subject areas. This is easy to do in science with topics such as DNA and heredity, forensics, simple machines, weather and climate, and environmental issues. Some students see these connections immediately; others may need guidance and examples.
- Incorporate a variety of teaching strategies. Science lends itself to hands-on activities, inquiry, cooperative learning, projects, using graphic organizers, multimedia presentations, and games or simulations. Even if a student is not interested in the content of the lesson, the types of activities may be motivational.
- Use formative assessments to gauge whether students are “getting it” or if you need to adjust your instruction. Once students get lost or confused, it’s hard to get them re-interested in a topic. If they know a topic, you could move on to a higher level of learning.
- Give students feedback on their work, especially if they’re learning new concepts and skills. From a nod, a smile, or a high-five to a comment on written work or class participation, our recognition of students’ success and progress can be motivational to them. Some teachers have students chart their progress and reflect on their work using rubrics and science notebooks. Many students are also motivated by grades and prizes for successful work. Some teachers use rewards to get students hooked on a topic initially. However, an overemphasis on extrinsic rewards may thwart our efforts to help students ultimately become independent, self-directed learners.
- Differentiate between being “busy” and being “engaged” with a task. A teacher once told me, “My students are so busy in science class they don’t have time to think.” I’m hoping she was exaggerating, because students need time to think about what they’re learning and connect it to what they already know or to other concepts. If you ask students to color a page, copy definitions verbatim, watch a video with no preliminary or follow-up discussion, do a low-level word puzzle, or do a simple follow-the-directions activity, ask yourself what the purpose of the activity is (beyond being busy) and at what level the students will be engaged.
If students are used to being passive learners, it may be hard for them to assume responsibility for learning, adapt to a variety of learning strategies, and develop their own interests and passions. The teacher’s role would be to model self-directed motivation and learning and provide scaffolding for students to build these skills.
It’s ironic: when I asked students what good teachers do to spark and keep their interest, they said many of the same things! The students said the worst thing to do in class is copy notes from the board. They felt they learned best from class discussions, working together, and projects that allowed them to use their problem-solving skills and creativity. I also asked if they ever thought a topic in science was going to be boring, only to find that it was really interesting or compelling. I asked what changed their minds. Virtually every student said it was something the teacher did that “salted the oats” for them.
If anyone has other suggestions, please feel free to add them!