There are many problems in the classroom that can stem from issues like motivation, differences, either group or individual, and cognition. It is important for educators to understand the problems students have in the classroom, as well as how to address them and establish if the desired results are being achieved. Which are grounded on the methods used to tackle the problem or problems. A professional knowledge and understanding of applying primary concepts in the arena of educational psychology that can truly make or break an educator’s ability to run an effective classroom. Introduction
Imagine you are in an Accounting 1 class, where you do your homework during class time and your listen to the lectures online at home. In this class,
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Motivation can be broken down into several subtopics that can address finer details with student motivation. One of the main issues is that students are not becoming personally invested in the class rather then being motivated by their grades. According to Alfie Kohn, students who are motivated by their grades is known as especially problematic, this has effects of decreasing a student’s interest in learning, and shutting down curiosity and risk-taking (Kohn, 2009). Also Mr. Kohn wrote a great book about how students are punished by rewards. In his book Punished by Rewards; he states incentives never produce anything more then temporary obedience. The more we use incentives to motivate people, the more they lose interest in what you are having them learn (Kohn, Punished by Reward, 1993). Couple ways to influence a student’s personal investment in a topic is to affect their self-efficacy and action possibilities. When helping students become confident in the subject matter, they can successfully engage in-group work and have positive outcomes in class by working on their self-efficacy skills. Closely connected to the concept of self-efficacy is that of action possibilities because actions you believe are possible and what you believe about the consequences of those actions (Peteranetz, Motivation, 2015). When students think that they are able to learn by just doing the necessary things to
According to Wormeli (2014) " teachers need to know that motivation is something we create with students, not something we do to them. We can control student's behaviour through rewards or threats, but we can't use those methods to motivate that student to do anything he or she doesn't already want to do".(pp. 26-31).
Educational psychology: A Century of Contributions. (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Eribaum,2003), p. 257; and Elkind, p.
The concepts of motivation allowed me to understand each of my students on an individual level as well. Not all students are motivated the same way and learning new ways to motivate first graders that are not, “if you do this, you will get a prize” changed my classroom environment. I used strategies like goal-setting to get my students motivated to do well on their assignments. When they saw the growth they were making it was pushing them to do better. They didn’t need to get something in order to do well. The satisfaction in seeing their growth gave them motivation. I am hoping that by starting them out with this strategy young, stays with them as they move on to the upper grade levels.
Education today is too Type X- meaning the emphasis on greater rewards for doing what you should do anyways is based on extrinsic rewards. The education system seems to be heavily based on carrots and sticks. The biggest way to motivate someone seems to be by dangling something, such as a carrot, in front of someone 's face or poking them with a stick. If you want a student to do something, why are they motivated with some type of compensation such as an A in the class? In his book, Drive, Daniel H. Pink divides motivation into three categories that evolved over time- Motivation 1.0, 2.0, 3.0. using these theories to challenge this motivation of carrot and sticks.
“My analysis if coercion in schooling was all very nice, but the department required I give grades. If I didn’t give grades, I wouldn’t be allowed to teach” (Jensen). This sparked the interest of motivation and its effect on grades in education, and it came to me after reading Derrick Jensen’s passage “Grades”. Do grades motivate? In Jenson’s quote, his motivation to give grades to his students was driven by the ability to keep his job.
Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J. and Warfield, T. D. (2007). Intermediate Accounting. (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Robyn R. Jackson, How to Motivate Reluctant Learners, ASCD, 2011,says that, what we call "motivation" in school is really a decision students make to invest in our classrooms. It's our responsibility to show students the value of investment and guide them toward behaviors that will support learning. In this guide, Robyn R. Jackson takes you step by step through the process of motivating reluctant learners--what great teachers do instead of relying on elaborate rewards systems.
Motivation is an important aspect of everyday life. "Researchers have consistently found that an approach based on extrinsic rewards and consequences actually reduces children's intrinsic motivation to learn" (Solley). Motivation is lost due to the pressure
Motivation can be defined as the desire or inspiration to carry out specific tasks or to do something. Motivation is required when goals are being set and more so in their execution. In a work setting, motivation can be defined as a process through which individuals choose between alternative forms of behavior with the aim of achieving personal objectives. The goals sought by individuals can be extrinsic or relatively tangible such as monetary rewards and promotion, or intrinsic or intangible such as self esteem or job satisfaction (Armstrong, 2006). In learning, the desire to attain good grades is what motivates a student to study hard everyday as they prepare for the exam. On the other hand, for a teacher to put his best foot forward, he
This type of motivation is influenced heavily by rewards and external incentives. It also implies the notion that “I have to do something” in order to be compliant with what someone else wants me to do. It is a motivation that is primarily influenced by the hope of attaining tangible items such as prizes, special privileges, or money. Although Drive implies the heavy use of Motivation 2.0 by the corporate world, Pink also draws attention to the fact that schools typically operate under this mode, as well, and that it can have detrimental effects on our students and on learning, in general. Motivation 2.0 is also referred to in the book as the “Carrots and Sticks Approach”, and although it may yield positive results in the short-term, the repeated or incorrect use of extrinsic rewards can actually work against what educators are trying to achieve in terms of truly motivating their students.
Kieso, D.E., Warfield, T.D., & Wegandt, J.J. (2010). Intermediate Accounting. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The psychology theorists of the past have shaped the classrooms of the present. There are many theorists that have affected the teaching styles of today and a theorist that has had a major impact is Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s work interests me much because his concepts and ideas encompass many of the ways in which teachers teach in today’s classrooms. The ideas he presented have contoured the strategies of teachers. It is interesting to look into the reasons why teachers have adopted some of the strategies they use and many of those reasons are formed from the original ideas of Vygotsky.
The way in which students learn in an educational environment is greatly affected by many things. Many argue that students are affected by teachers, peers, mentors, and the environment that they are brought up in and expected to grow in physically and mentally. However, while all of this can be true, students are also greatly impacted by the way they learn in any environment that they are placed in. Chickering & Gamson have written about how being a successful student allows the student to grow from their experiences in the classroom if the course includes interaction with others as well as hands-on training
One of the more popular areas of psychology is Educational Psychology. Educational Psychology can be explained several ways. The idea is to study theories and concepts from different parts of psychology and apply them in educational settings. These educational settings may occur in different school settings such as preschool. The goal of educational psychology is to create a positive student-teacher relationship. Educational psychology uses five different types of psychology, behavioral, cognitive, developmental, and social cognitive, and constructivist in this research paper I will be briefly discussing each type of psychology listed above.
Over the course of this semester, I have had the opportunity to learn about educational psychology. I have always enjoyed psychology and was especially interested in how it applied to teaching in the classroom. There were five specific concepts we discussed over the semester that especially interested me. I found that homogenous and heterogeneous grouping, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, operant conditioning, cooperative learning, and divergent versus convergent thinking are five psychological concepts that every teacher should learn about in preparation for teaching.