Seems logical. Human beings like to experience success.
I think a corollary is that students who fail early on, who are often from circumstances that are subpar, are likely to reject the entire idea of academic effort permanently. Why would you make an effort in a venue where you are always shown to be inferior? And yes, fairly vast numbers of people have made this same observation, it's just human nature.
What one can do about all that I don't know. I'm a fan of the successful charter school approaches that instill esprit de corps and expectations of success and good behavior in kids, but would not reject other approaches that work. I think most teachers in any school environment try to help their students achieve.
Absolutely, most teachers try to help their students achieve! I've never met one who didn't. The problem is that--due to complex historical and systemic factors--their training and their instructional materials often mislead them about what will lead to achievement.
The principles of education orthodoxy generally contradict what cognitive science has found is likely to work. E.g., education orthodoxy stresses having students learn through inquiry or "discovery" as much as possible, whereas cognitive science tells us that learners who are new to a topic need explicit instruction in order to succeed.
Many charter schools are good at instilling "expectations of success," as you say, but (as far as I can tell) only a handful have adopted instructional approaches that align with cognitive science. Expectations are important, but they're not enough--and pedagogy grounded in science can actually increase expectations, because students start exceeding prior expectations.
My own mantra is 'competence before confidence'. Accurate self-efficacy predicts achievement but that depends on knowing what you can really do. And that depends on being taught new stuff so that you have knowledge.
There’s also something called identified motivation. This is what Matt Y probably experienced. We know there’s a reward coming and it might not involve much of a reward in the short term. For example, studying because you want to be a doctor some day is identified motivation.
Great article, Natalie. Teaching 7th and 8th graders, I've met many students who have decided "they're not smart," "bad at history," and "hate school." I have had success with these students by cultivating a relationship and what I like to think of as my skill at figuring out the most interesting entry way into topics of US history, my subjects. I read the research paper you linked by Bardach and Murayama on motivation and appreciated one of the conclusions they drew, namely that "extrinsic rewards may function as a way for learners to jump-start the positive feedback loop of knowledge acquisition." Your point that this would likely only work if the student experienced some success is an important one. This suggests that at the beginning of the school year and/or a new unit, creating opportunities for unmotivated students to achieve clear success at some small task could be instrumental at changing the trajectory of students. Thank you for highlighting this point which now has me thinking about ways to explicitly do this.
Thank you this is an excellent summary and explains many of my principles really clearly. Exactly what I need before an hour or so leading my faculty on our INSET day tomorrow!
This article makes an important point about the connection between achievement and motivation, but having been in many “unmotivated” classrooms, I wonder if it misses two key opportunities to deepen the discussion:
1. Motivation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Many classrooms I’ve worked in struggle with systemic barriers like inequitable resources or a lack of culturally responsive teaching. Could addressing these factors create a foundation where students can experience the achievement needed to spark motivation?
2. In many unmotivated classrooms, the strength of the teacher-student connection is often the missing piece. Research shows that students’ belief in a teacher’s investment in them can jumpstart engagement, even before they experience personal achievement. How can we better equip educators to foster these relationships alongside clear teaching? (Now, I hate to be in the administrator who says "have you tried building a relationship...?" but the data is pretty compelling).
There are of course many factors affecting motivation beyond what I could address in this post. I focused on "clear teaching" (teaching according to the principles of cognitive science) because it's something that's fairly doable and because teachers rarely get the information or training that would equip them to do it. Cultural responsiveness and teacher-student connections are certainly important, but if you're teaching in a way that makes learning more difficult than it needs to be--and perhaps impossible for some students--that probably won't get you very far in terms of motivating students.
Seems logical. Human beings like to experience success.
I think a corollary is that students who fail early on, who are often from circumstances that are subpar, are likely to reject the entire idea of academic effort permanently. Why would you make an effort in a venue where you are always shown to be inferior? And yes, fairly vast numbers of people have made this same observation, it's just human nature.
What one can do about all that I don't know. I'm a fan of the successful charter school approaches that instill esprit de corps and expectations of success and good behavior in kids, but would not reject other approaches that work. I think most teachers in any school environment try to help their students achieve.
Absolutely, most teachers try to help their students achieve! I've never met one who didn't. The problem is that--due to complex historical and systemic factors--their training and their instructional materials often mislead them about what will lead to achievement.
The principles of education orthodoxy generally contradict what cognitive science has found is likely to work. E.g., education orthodoxy stresses having students learn through inquiry or "discovery" as much as possible, whereas cognitive science tells us that learners who are new to a topic need explicit instruction in order to succeed.
Many charter schools are good at instilling "expectations of success," as you say, but (as far as I can tell) only a handful have adopted instructional approaches that align with cognitive science. Expectations are important, but they're not enough--and pedagogy grounded in science can actually increase expectations, because students start exceeding prior expectations.
My own mantra is 'competence before confidence'. Accurate self-efficacy predicts achievement but that depends on knowing what you can really do. And that depends on being taught new stuff so that you have knowledge.
There’s also something called identified motivation. This is what Matt Y probably experienced. We know there’s a reward coming and it might not involve much of a reward in the short term. For example, studying because you want to be a doctor some day is identified motivation.
Reward effort ... "IF the end product ISN'T PRAISEWORTHY"???
WHAT?
No... from day 1 in reception or preschool... reward effort full stop! Quality of outcome will result from a habit of maximum effort!
Great article, Natalie. Teaching 7th and 8th graders, I've met many students who have decided "they're not smart," "bad at history," and "hate school." I have had success with these students by cultivating a relationship and what I like to think of as my skill at figuring out the most interesting entry way into topics of US history, my subjects. I read the research paper you linked by Bardach and Murayama on motivation and appreciated one of the conclusions they drew, namely that "extrinsic rewards may function as a way for learners to jump-start the positive feedback loop of knowledge acquisition." Your point that this would likely only work if the student experienced some success is an important one. This suggests that at the beginning of the school year and/or a new unit, creating opportunities for unmotivated students to achieve clear success at some small task could be instrumental at changing the trajectory of students. Thank you for highlighting this point which now has me thinking about ways to explicitly do this.
Thank you this is an excellent summary and explains many of my principles really clearly. Exactly what I need before an hour or so leading my faculty on our INSET day tomorrow!
This article makes an important point about the connection between achievement and motivation, but having been in many “unmotivated” classrooms, I wonder if it misses two key opportunities to deepen the discussion:
1. Motivation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Many classrooms I’ve worked in struggle with systemic barriers like inequitable resources or a lack of culturally responsive teaching. Could addressing these factors create a foundation where students can experience the achievement needed to spark motivation?
2. In many unmotivated classrooms, the strength of the teacher-student connection is often the missing piece. Research shows that students’ belief in a teacher’s investment in them can jumpstart engagement, even before they experience personal achievement. How can we better equip educators to foster these relationships alongside clear teaching? (Now, I hate to be in the administrator who says "have you tried building a relationship...?" but the data is pretty compelling).
Would love your thoughts!
There are of course many factors affecting motivation beyond what I could address in this post. I focused on "clear teaching" (teaching according to the principles of cognitive science) because it's something that's fairly doable and because teachers rarely get the information or training that would equip them to do it. Cultural responsiveness and teacher-student connections are certainly important, but if you're teaching in a way that makes learning more difficult than it needs to be--and perhaps impossible for some students--that probably won't get you very far in terms of motivating students.
Such an honour being showcased on your post Natalie. Thank you!