I read an article sponsored by our (Time4Learning’s) educational partner, CompassLearning which I found very worthwhile:
Students, like everyone else, are motivated by rewards for their efforts. Rewards come in many forms but schools tend toward material rewards (in Texas, during state assessments,when you hand out the number two pencils, the kids smell pizza!) or the reward of no punishment,i.e., If you do this, you won’t have to stay after school, take remedial reading, write an essay, do areport, etc. While external rewards and recognition (your name on the good list, not the bad) go along way, good instruction must provoke a learner toward an intrinsic reward system that leads toself-directed learning. This is a difficult thing to measure or even observe, but teachers who createenvironments that allow students to experience the internal reward of “I’ve got it” or “I’m gettingbetter” or “This is easier than I thought” are promoting motivation.
Other than the comments about the pizza smell (which I didn’t understand), I found this article by Quality Quinn to be far-reaching in attempting to be realistic about motivation and the impact schools have on students. It’s ironic to those of us who come out of the game industry that while our software successfully engages students to literally spend years of their life working hard and focusing; the educational industry forces the students to do work and gets virtually no engagement or real focus. To find the article, go to http://techandlearning.newbay-media.com/resource_center/company/compass-learning#
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“…the lesson of history is that civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost.” CS Lewis
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Albert Einstein
I’m feeling philosophical today…..the editor…
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