Implications of Learning Theories in Modern World

ask Excerpted from Chapter 11 of Biehler/Snowman, PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO TEACHING, 8/e, Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Definition of motive (p. 399) behavioral Views of want (pp. 399-402) cognitive Views of Motivation (pp. 402-406) The Humanistic View of Motivation (pp. 406-409) The cushion of co-op culture on Motivation (pp. 416-417) Suggestions for T distributivelying in Your schoolroom Motivating Students to Learn (p. 422) Resources for Further Investigation (pp. 433-434) Definition of Motivation Motivation is typic sever solely(a)yy defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior.Nevertheless, many instructors brace at to the lowest degree two major misconceptions closely motive that encumber them from using this concept with maximum effectiveness. One misconception is that some learners be unmotivated. stringently speaking, that is not an accurate statement. As long as a student chooses destinations and expends a certain amount of private road to achieve them, he is, by definition, motivated. What teachers really mean is that students atomic number 18 not motivated to be pull in in the way teachers would like them to be drive. The second misconception is that ne person stooge instantly motivate an differentwise. This envision is inaccurate beca engross motivation comes from within a person. What you advise do, with the help of the various motivation theories discussed in this chapter, is create the circumstances that turn students to do what you want them to do. Many factors determine whether the students in your air divisiones pass on be motivated or not motivated to learn. You should not be impress to discover that no single theoretical interpretation of motivation explains all aspects of student interest or lack of it.Different theoretical interpretations do, however, shed wake on why some students in a apt(p) skill situation ar to a great extent likely to want to learn than new(prenominal)s. Further more(prenominal), each theoretical interpretation hind end serve as the basis for the discipline of techniques for motivating students in the classroom. Several theoretical interpretations of motivation some of which be derived from discussions of teaching presented earlier will now be summarized. natural covering behavioral Views of Motivation Operant Conditioning and Social education schemeThe Effect of bread and butter In Chapter 8 we discussed Skinners emphasis of the role of backup in cultivation. after demonstrating that organisms tend to repeat actions that be reinforced and that behavior potful be mold by reinforcement, Skinner developed the technique of programmed instruction to admit it possible for students to be reinforced for every jell response. According to Skinner, furnish the correct answerand macrocosm in forgeed by the program that it is the correct answermotivates the student to go on to the next frame and a s the student forges through the program, the desired terminal behavior is more and more shaped.Fol pocket-sizeing Skinners decease, many behavioral erudition theorists devised techniques of behavior modification on the speculation that students are motivated to complete a toil by being promised a refund of some kind. Many ages the proceeds conquer under virtuosos skins the form of praise or a grade. Sometimes it is a token that apprise be traded in for some desired object and at other times the reward whitethorn be the privilege of engaging in a self-selected activity. Operant conditioning interpretations of development may help uncover why some students react avorably to particular subjects and dislike others. For instance, some students may enter a required maths class with a notion of delight, while others may feel that they have been sentenced to prison. Skinner suggests that such differences terminate be traced to past experiences. He would argue that the s tudent who loves math has been shaped to respond that way by a series of substantiative experiences with math. The math hater, in contrast, may have suffered a series of negative experiences.The force-out of Persuasive Models Social teaching theorists, such as Albert Bandura, call wariness to the importance of observation, imitation, and vicarious reinforcement (expecting to receive the same reinforcer that we try out some atomic number 53 else get for exhibiting a particular behavior). A student who identifies with and admires a teacher of a particular subject may operate on onerous partially to please the admired individual and partly to try bonny like that individual.A student who observes an older brother or sister reaping benefits from earning steep(prenominal) grades may strive to do the same with the expectation of experiencing the same or similar benefits. A student who notices that a classmate receives praise from the teacher after acting in a certain way may de cide to imitate such behavior to win similar rewards. As we acc substance abuseed out in Chapter 8, both vicarious reinforcement and direct reinforcement can raise an individuals sense of self-efficacy for a particular task, which, in turn, behaves to spunkyer levels of motivation.Top Cognitive Views of Motivation Cognitive views stress that human behavior is influenced by the way plenty think approximately themselves and their environment. The direction that behavior administers can be explained by four influences the inhering need to construct an organize and logically consistent sleep withledge base, ones expectations for successfully completing a task, the factors that one believes account for success and failure, and ones beliefs about the nature of cognitive ability. The Impact of Cognitive DevelopmentThis view is based on Jean Piagets dominions of equilibration, assimilation, accommodation, and schema formation. Piaget proposes that children possess an inherent desi re to maintain a sense of organization and balance in their conception of the world (equilibration). A sense of equilibration may be experience if a child assimilates a brisk experience by relating it to an real proposal, or the child may accommodate by modifying an existing scheme if the upstart experience is too different. In assenting, individuals will repeatedly use new schemes because of an inherent desire to master their environment.This explains why young children can, with no loss of enthusiasm, sing the same song, tell the same story, and play the same game over and over and why they repeatedly open and eject doors to rooms and cupboards with no seeming purpose. It in like manner explains why older children take great delight in collecting and organizing al roughly everything they can get their hands on and why adolescents who have begun to attain formal running(a)(a) thinking will argue incessantly about all the grievance in the world and how it can be eliminate d (Stipek, 1993).Top The Need for achievement realise you ever decided to take on a moderately repugn task (like take a course on astronomy notwithstanding though you are a history major and have lone(prenominal) a limited background in science) and then shew that you had around conflicting beliefs about it? On the one hand, you snarl eager to get going the course, confident that you would be pleased with your act. however on the other hand, you also felt a bit of anxiety because of the small possibility of failure. without delay try to imagine the opposite situation.In reaction to a suggestion to take a course outside your major, you flat out refuse because the hazard of failure seems great, while the probability of success seems quite small. In the too soon 1960s John Atkinson (1964) proposed that such differences in acquirement behavior are due to differences in something called the need for achievement. Atkinson described this need as a global, generalized desire to attain goals that require some degree of competence. He saw this need as being partly innate and partly the result of experience.Individuals with a high need for achievement have a stronger expectation of success than they do a alarm of failure for most tasks and therefore anticipate a feeling of pride in handment. When ween a choice, high-need achievers seek out moderately challenging tasks because they offer an preferimum balance betwixt challenge and expected success. By contrast, individuals with a low need for achievement avoid such tasks because their fear of failure greatly outweighs their expectation of success, and they therefore anticipate feelings of shame.When faced with a choice, they typically opt either for relatively easy tasks because the probability of success is high or rather intemperate tasks because there is no shame in flunk to achieve a lofty goal. Atkinsons point about taking fear of failure into account in arranging learning experiences has been made more recently by William Glasser in Control Theory in the schoolroom (1986) and The Quality School (1990). Glasser argues that for people to succeed at life in general, they mustiness first experience success in one measurable aspect of their lives.For most children, that one important part should be school. But the traditional approach to evaluating learning, which emphasizes comparative grading (comm tho called grading on the cut d testify), allows only a minority of students to achieve As and Bs and feel successful. The self-worth of the remaining students (who may be quite capable) suffers, which depresses their motivation to achieve on subsequent classroom tasks (Covington, 1985). Top The Humanistic View of Motivation Abraham Maslow earned his Ph. D. in a psychology department that supported the behaviorist position.After he graduated, however, he came into conflict with Gestalt psychologists (a group of German psychologists whose work during the 1920s and 1930s laid the footing for the cognitive theories of the 1960s and 1970s), prepared for a career as a psychoanalyst, and became interested in anthropology. As a result of these various influences, he came to the conclusion that American psychologists who endorsed the behaviorist position had become so listless with overt behavior and objectivity that they were ignoring other important aspects of human worldly concern (hence the term humanistic to describe his views).When Maslow observed the behavior of especially well-balanced personsor self-actualizers, as he called themhe concluded that healthy individuals are motivated to seek fulfilling experiences. Maslows Theory of Growth Motivation Maslow describes seventeen propositions, discussed in Chapter 1 of Motivation and Personality (3d ed. , 1987), that he believes would have to be incorporated into any sound theory of growth motivation (or need gratification) to conglomerate them.Referring to need gratification as the most important single principle underlying all development, he adds that the single, holistic principle that binds together the numerousness of human motives is the tendency for a new and higher need to cut as the lower need fulfills itself by being sufficiently suffer (1968, p. 55). He elaborates on this basic principle by proposing a five-level power structure of of necessity. Physiological call for are at the bottom of the hierarchy, followed in cost increase order by safety, belongingness and love, view, and self-actualization needs.This order reflects differences in the relative strength of each need. The lower a need is in the hierarchy, the greater is its strength because when a lower-level need is activated (as in the case of extreme hunger or fear for ones physical safety), people will stop trying to fit a higher-level need (such as esteem or self-actualization) and focus on satisfying the currently lively lower-level need (Maslow, 1987). The first four needs (physiological, safety, bel ongingness and love, and esteem) are oftentimes referred to as deficiency needs because they motivate people to act only when they are unmet to some degree.Self-actualization, by contrast, is often called a growth need because people constantly strive to satisfy it. Basically, self-actualization refers to the need for self-fulfillment the need to develop all of ones potential drop talents and capabilities. For example, an individual who felt she had the capability to write novels, teach, practice medicine, and raise children would not feel self-actualized until all of these goals had been accomplished to some minimal degree. Because it is at the top of the hierarchy and addresses the potential of the whole person, self-actualization is discussed more frequently than the other needs.Maslow originally felt that self-actualization needs would automatically be activated as soon as esteem needs were met, but he changed his mind when he encountered individuals whose behavior did not fi t this pattern. He concluded that individuals whose self-actualization needs became activated held in high regard such values as truth, genuineness, beauty, justice, autonomy, and humor (Feist, 1990). In addition to the five basic needs that compose the hierarchy, Maslow describes cognitive needs (such as the needs to know and to understand) and aesthetic needs (such as the needs for order, symmetry, or harmony).While not part of the basic hierarchy, these two classes of needs play a diminutive role in the satisfaction of basic needs. Maslow maintains that such conditions as the freedom to investigate and learn, fairness, honesty, and orderliness in interpersonal relationships are critical because their absence receives satisfaction of the five basic needs impossible. (Imagine, for example, trying to satisfy your belongingness and love needs or your esteem needs in an automatic teller characterized by dishonesty, unfair punishment, and restrictions on freedom of speech. ) Top Th e Impact of Cooperative Learning on Motivationclassroom tasks can be structured so that students are forced to compete with one another, work individually, or cooperate with one another to obtain the rewards that teachers make available for successfully completing these tasks. Traditionally, emulous arrangements have been assumed to be superior to the other two in increasing motivation and learning. But reviews of the research literature by David Johnson and Roger Johnson (Johnson Johnson, 1995 Johnson, Johnson, Smith, 1995) undercoat co-op arrangements to be far superior in producing these benefits.In this section we will describe accommodating-, competitive, and individual learning arrangements (sometimes called goal structures or reward structures), light upon the elements that make up the major approaches to cooperative learning, and examine the effect of cooperative learning on motivation, achievement, and interpersonal relationships. Types of Classroom Reward Structures Competitive goal structures are typically norm referenced. (If you cant recall our discussion of the normal disregard in Chapter 5, now might be a good time for a quick review. This traditional practice of grading on the submit predetermines the percentage of A, B, C, D, and F grades regardless of the actual distribution of test scores. Because only a small percentage of students in any group can achieve the highest rewards and because this accomplishment must come at some other students expense, competitive goal structures are characterized by negative interdependence. Students try to surpass one another, view classmates failures as an advantage, and come to believe that the winners deserve their rewards because they are inherently better (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1994 Johnson et al. 1995). Some researchers have argued that competitive reward structures lead students to focus on ability as the primary basis for motivation. This penchant is reflected in the question Am I s mart enough to accomplish this task? When ability is the basis for motivation, competing successfully in the classroom may be seen as relevant to self-esteem (since nobody loves a loser), arduous to accomplish (since only a few can succeed), and uncertain (success depends on how everyone else does).These perceptions may cause some students to avoid challenging subjects or tasks, to give up in the face of difficulty, to reward themselves only if they win a competition, and to believe that their own successes are due to ability, whereas the successes of others are due to chance (Ames & Ames, 1984 Dweck, 1986). Individualistic goal structures are characterized by students working alone and earning rewards totally on the quality of their own efforts. The success or failure of other students is irrelevant.All that matters is whether the student tackles the standards for a particular task (Johnson et al. , 1994 Johnson et al. , 1995). Thirty students working by themselves at computer terminals are functioning in an individual reward structure. According to Carole Ames and Russell Ames (1984), individual structures lead students to focus on task effort as the primary basis for motivation (as in I can do this if I try). Whether a student perceives a task as difficult depends on how successful she has been with that type of task in the past.Cooperative goal structures are characterized by students working together to accomplish overlap goals. What is beneficial for the other students in the group is beneficial for the individual and valetudinarianism versa. Because students in cooperative groups can obtain a desired reward (such as a high grade or a feeling of satisfaction for a job well done) only if the other students in the group also obtain the same reward, cooperative goal structures are characterized by positive interdependence. Also, all groups may receive the same rewards, provided they meet the teachers criteria for mastery.For example, a teacher might present a lesson on office reading, then give each group its own map and a question-answering exercise. Students then work with each other to ensure that all know how to interpret maps. Each student then takes a quiz on map reading. All teams whose average quiz scores meet a preset standard receive special recognition (Johnson et al. , 1994 Johnson et al. , 1995 Slavin, 1995). Cooperative structures lead students to focus on effort and cooperation as the primary basis of motivation.This orientation is reflected in the statement We can do this if we try hard and work together. In a cooperative atmosphere, students are motivated out of a sense of obligation one ought to try, contribute, and help satisfy group norms (Ames Ames, 1984). William Glasser, whose ideas we mentioned earlier, is a fan of cooperative learning. He points out that student motivation and performance tend to be highest for such activities as band, drama club, athletics, the school newspaper, and the yearbook, al l of which require a team effort (Gough, 1987).We would also like to point out that cooperative-learning and reward structures are consistent with the constructivist approach discussed in Chapters 1, 2, and 10 since they encourage inquiry, perspective sharing, and conflict resolution. Top Suggestions for direction in Your Classroom Motivating Students to Learn 1. Use behavioral techniques to help students exert themselves and work toward remote goals. 2. Make sure that students know what they are to do, how to proceed, and how to determine when they have achieved goals. 3. Do everything possible to satisfy deficiency needs physiological, safety, belongingness, and esteem. . Accommodate the instructional program to the physiological needs of your students. b. Make your room physically and psychologically safe. c. Show your students that you take an interest in them and that they belong in your classroom. d. rank learning experiences so that all students can gain at least a degree of esteem. 4. Enhance the attractions and minimize the dangers of growth choices. 5. Direct learning experiences toward feelings of success in an effort to encourage an orientation toward achievement, a positive self-concept, and a strong sense of self-efficacy. . Make use of objectives that are challenging but attainable and, when appropriate, that involve student input. b. Provide fellowship of results by emphasizing the positive. 6. Try to encourage the development of need achievement, self-confidence, and self-direction in students who need these qualities. a. Use achievement-motivation training techniques. b. Use cooperative-learning methods. 7. Try to make learning interesting by emphasizing activity, investigation, adventure, social interaction, and usefulness. Top Resources for Further InvestigationSurveys of motivational Theories In a basic survey text, Motivation to Learn From Theory to Practice (2d ed. , 1993), Deborah Stipek discusses reinforcement theory, social cognit ive theory, intrinsic motivation, need for achievement theory, attribution theory, and perceptions of ability. In adjunct 2-A, she presents a rating form and hit procedure with which teachers can identify students who may have motivation problems. Appendix 3-A is a self-rating form that teachers can use to keep track of how often they provide rewards and punishments.A useful summary of motivation theories and techniques can be found in the Worcester Polytechnic Universitys WWW site for teacher development, at http//www. wpi. edu/isg_501/motivation. hypertext markup language. Top Motivational Techniques for the Classroom Motivation and inform A Practical excrete (1978), by Raymond Wlodkowski, and Eager to Learn (1990), by Raymond Wlodkowski and Judith Jaynes, are a good source of classroom covering ideas. Motivating Students to Learn Overcoming Barriers to High Achievement (1993), edited by Tommy Tomlinson, devotes four chapters to elementary school and four chapters to high sch ool motivation issues.Two sources of information on motivation techniques and suggestions for teaching are found at Columbia Universitys show for Learning Technologies, which contains documents, papers, and unusual projects and activities that could be used to increase student motivation and at Northwestern Universitys Institute for Learning Sciences Engines for Education on-line program, which allows educators to pursue a number of questions about students, learning environments, and successful teaching through a hyperlinked database.The Institute for Learning Technologies is found at http//www. ilt. columbia. edu/ilt/. The Institute for Learning Sciences is found at http//www. ils. nwu. edu/. This was excerpted from Chapter 11 of Biehler/Snowman, PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO TEACHING, 8/e, Houghton Mifflin, 1997. For more information on Motivation in Gage/Berliner, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 6/e, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1998, see Chapter 8, Motivation and Learning For more information on Moti vation in the Grabes INTEGRATING engine room FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING, 2/e, Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1998 see page 97 for the role of motivation in drill and practice, pages 51-55 for the role of motivation in meaningful learning, page 163 for the role of motivativation in writing, and pages 398-99 for learning styles and social and motivational preferences. Teaching intimations of Learning Theories The best college teachers have generally cobbled together from their own experiences working with students conceptions of human learning that are remarkably similar to some ideas that have emerged in the research and theoretical literature on cognition, motivation, and human development (from Ken Bains book, What the Best College Teachers Do). Theories of learning, whether explicit or tacit, informed by study or intuition, well-considered or not, play a role in the choices instructors make concerning their teaching.The major trend in understanding how students learn has been a movement a way from the behaviorist model to a cognitive view of learning (see Svinicki (below) for an overview of learning theories). Implications for teaching practice of some key ideas from learning theories 1. Learning is a process of active construction. Learning is the interaction between what students know, the new information they encounter, and the activities they engage in as they learn. Students construct their own understanding through experience, interactions with content and others, and reflection. Teaching ImplicationProvide opportunities for students to connect with your content in a variety of meaningful ways by using cooperative learning, interactive lectures, engaging assignments, hands-on lab/field experiences, and other active learning strategies. 2. Students prior knowledge is an important determinant of what they will learn. Students do not come to your class as a blank slate. They use what they already know about a topic to interpret new information. When students canno t relate new material to what they already know, they tend to memorizelearning for the testrather than developing any real understanding of the content.Teaching Implication Learn about your students experiences, preconceptions, or misconceptions by using pre-tests, background knowledge probes, and written or oral activities designed to reveal students thinking about the topic. 3. Organizing information into a abstract framework helps students remember and use knowledge. Students must learn factual information, understand these facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application in order to develop competence in a new topic. Teaching ImplicationSupport students by using concept maps, flowcharts, outlines, comparison tables, etc. , to make the structure of the knowledge clear. 4. Learning is a social phenomenon. Students learn with greater understanding when they share ideas through conversation, debate, a nd negotiation. Explaining a concept to ones peers puts knowledge to a public test where it can be examined, reshaped, and clarified. Teaching Implication Use Cooperative learning strategies, long-term group projects, class discussions, and group activities to support the social side of learning. . Learning is context-specific. It is often difficult for students to use what they learn in class in new contexts (i. e. , other classes, the workplace, or their personal lives). Teaching Implication Use problem-based learning, simulations or cases, and help learning to create learning environments similar to the real world. 6. Students metacognitive skills (thinking about thinking) are important to their learning. Many students utilize few learning strategies and have a limited awareness of their thinking processes.Teaching Implication Help students become more metacognitively aware by modeling your thinking as you solve a problem, develop an argument, or analyze written work in bird-sc arer of the class. Teach metacognitive strategies, such as setting goals, making predictions, and checking for consistency. Focus charge on metacognition by having students write in a learning journal or develop explanations of their problem-solving processes. Resources on Learning Theories Bransford, J. D. , Brown, A. L. , Cocking, R. R. (Eds. ) (1999).How People Learn Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. working capital DC National Academy Press. Donovan, M. S. , Bransford, J. D. , Pelegrino, J. W. (Eds. ) (1999). How People Learn Bridging Research and Practice. upper-case letter DC National Academy Press. Learning Theories Knowledgebase. (2008, May). Index of Learning Theories and Models at Learning-Theories. com. Svinicki, M. D. (1999). New directions in learning and motivations. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 80 (Winter), 5-27. http//cte. illinois. edu/resources/topics/theories. html