{"id":199,"date":"2017-09-28T14:04:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T18:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=199"},"modified":"2017-10-01T15:22:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-01T19:22:57","slug":"what-drives-your-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/09\/what-drives-your-students\/","title":{"rendered":"What Drives Your Students?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, your students are people, too.\u00a0<\/strong>Each student will have different interests, different methods, and most importantly, different\u00a0motivators<\/strong>. When you have a task to complete, are you more motivated to complete one because you\u00a0want<\/em> to do it or because you\u00a0have<\/em> to do it? We\u00a0eat cake because we want to and enjoy it. We eat our vegetables because we have to.<\/p>\n

It is likely that your students have come from an educational background full of\u00a0extrinsic motivators<\/em>, things like grades, GPA, stickers, and candy rewards. Extrinsic motivators are great, but they should be used in moderation and only in certain circumstances, especially in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Extrinsic motivators take the emphasis off the joy of learning for the sake of learning, and on some menial, external reward that isn’t going to last long. Students complete their work, do what they need to do for the reward, receive the reward, and then they don’t even remember what they learned, because\u00a0learning wasn’t the goal.\u00a0<\/em>The goal was that piece of candy. The goal was to get a passing grade. Sometimes we don’t do our best because we want to, but because we want the credit.
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What motivation should I use in the classroom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intrinsic<\/i>\u00a0motivators<\/em> are internal rewards- that feeling\u00a0of accomplishment that comes from within after you’ve completed a project, knowing that you’ve done something you couldn’t have done three months ago. Intrinsic motivators aren’t motivators you can see, they are\u00a0motivators you can feel.\u00a0<\/strong>These motivators bring the focus back to the\u00a0joy of learning– learning something for the sake of learning it<\/em><\/strong>–\u00a0<\/em>because you are interested, because you want to improve, because the learning is meaningful. When students are intrinsically motivated, they will truly learn, not just memorize facts just to get by.<\/p>\n

How do I make students intrinsically motivated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep in mind, there is no one answer for this. Every student might have different intrinsic motivators. Some might be motivated to know more about the life cycle and processes of plants, other students are going to be more interested in bacterium and how they impact other living things. There are three big things that are going to help you guide your students to be intrinsically motivated: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.<\/p>\n

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Intrinsic motivation comes from Autonomy (Can I make it my own) Mastery (can I get better), Purpose (Why am I doing it) #edtechteam<\/a><\/p>\n

— \ud835\ude0b\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude37\ud835\ude26 \ud835\ude14\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude33\ud835\ude35\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2f (@d_martin05) September 16, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n