1. Student Motivation
Dr. Jennifer Irwin
EDU 620: Module 9
Chapter 10

2. Do you ever feel like an
entertainer rather than a
teacher? Like you have to
motivate all of your students to
learn?

4. As you’ll see throughout this
presentation, motivation is (in
my opinion) a shared goal. It is
NOT solely the responsibility of
the teacher.

5. Motivation-related questions to
ponder . . .
• What is motivation?
• What motivates you?
• Are you completely in control of your motivation? (if not,
what other factors outside of yourself affect your
motivation?)
• Think about a time when you failed at something. Why
did you fail? Who or what was responsible?
• Is anxiety always a bad thing?
• Do teachers have an effect on student motivation? How?
• Is it important for students to feel motivated in the
classroom?

6. “The greatest discovery
of any generation
is that a human being
can alter his life
by altering his attitude.”
William James
Do you agree with this?
How does this relate to motivation?

7. What is Motivation?
Motivation . . .
Activates
(gets you
going)
Maintains
(keeps you
going)
Guides
(determines
where you’re
trying to go)
. . . behavior over time

8. What is Motivation?
• Motivation is one of the MOST critical
components of learning.
• Influenced by a student’s personality, abilities,
the task itself, incentives for learning, the
setting, and teachers’ behaviors.

9. Principles of Motivation
• Students are more likely to be intrinsically
motivated when they expect to succeed and
believe that they have some choice and
control.
Example: allowing students to choose their own
research topic instead of assigning it to them

10. Principles of Motivation
• Students need to feel connected with others.
Example: It is hard to feel motivated to do much
of anything if you feel like an outsider in a
classroom community

11. Principles of Motivation
3. Students are more likely to pursue an activity
when they see its relevance to their own
interests and goals.
Example: answering the age-old question, “when
am I ever going to need to know this?”

12. Principles of Motivation
• Students who truly want to master a domain
are more likely to learn effectively than those
who are mainly concerned with how they
appear or how they compare with others.
Example: the time you learned something just for
the sake of learning it versus the time that you
“learned” course material just to get a passing
grade

13. Principles of Motivation
5. Students who are emotionally involved in a
topic usually learn and remember it better, but
high levels of anxiety can be detrimental.
Example: have you ever over-studied and been
too anxious or stressed when taking a test and
then ended up failing it?

14. Principles of Motivation
• Students are most likely to put forth effort
when they attribute successes and failures to
factors over which they have control.
Example: knowing that you passed or failed a test
due entirely to the amount of effort you put in

15. Theories of Motivation
• We will take a look at the following theories
related to motivation:
 Behaviorism (it’s back!)
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Attribution Theory
 Expectancy Theory
 Goals Orientation
 The Flow Model

16. Behaviorism & Motivation
• Revisit our module on behaviorism
• Behaviors reinforced in the past are likely to
repeat
• The value of reinforcement is determined by
personal or situational factors (it all depends on
the person)
• The same things don’t motivate the same
people (think back to positive reinforcement and
punishment)

17. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Growth Needs
Deficiency
Needs

18. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Being a hierarchy, the needs at the bottom of
the triangle must be met before you can move
up to the next level.
• Look carefully at the description for each level.
• Deficiency Needs are critical to physical and
psychological well-being
• Growth Needs encompass the need to
understand things, the desire to become
everything that one is capable of becoming
 Like the “be all you can be” Army motto!

19. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Keep in mind, that learning is a
growth need!!
• It won’t be a priority for students if they are
lacking in their other needs.
• How can we help our students meet their
deficiency needs so that they can focus on
learning? (notice that I said “help them” meet these needs
rather than meeting these needs “for them”)

20. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Here are some examples:
• Physical (look for signs that a student might be chronically
tired or hungry)
• Security/Safety (have clear expectations and a stable
classroom routine—remember that school may be a safe haven
for some students)
• Social (get to know each student individually)
• Ego/Esteem (plan activities that will allow students to
demonstrate their talents/strengths)

21. Attribution Theory
• Have you ever met someone who blames all of
their failures on people and events outside of
themselves? Someone who never takes
responsibility for their actions? (I’m talking to you old
college roommate!!)
• Have you also met someone who doesn’t give
themselves enough credit for all of their hard
work?

22. Attribution Theory
• Attribution Theory seeks to understand the
explanations and excuses of success and
failure.
• Based on many criteria, including “locus of
control” (which can be internal or external)
• Take a look at the diagram on the next slide
that depicts 2 possible outcomes from taking a
test and 4 possible explanations

23. Attribution Theory
take a test
pass fail
INTERNAL
locus of control
I worked hard I didn’t study
EXTERNAL
locus of control
I was wearing my lucky socks The teacher hates me!

24. Expectancy Theory
• Expectancy Theory: Motivation depends on
person’s estimation of their chance for success
and how much value they place on that
achievement.
 If a student always gets an “A”, their motivation to
study might be low because they expect to “always
get the A.”
 If a student never gets an “A”, their motivation to
study might be low, as well. That student expects
to do poorly.
Learned helplessness: extreme lack of motivation;
student attempts to avoid failure again.

25. Goals Orientation
Why are you taking this course?
• Is it just a requirement that you have to check
off?
• Are you here to earn an “A”?
OR
• Perhaps you are here because you truly want to
learn about the field of educational psychology
and how to be a better teacher?

26. Goals Orientation
• According to Carol Dweck (and others),
students are oriented toward one of two kinds
of goals in a learning situation
• Performance Goals: student is motivated by
the desire to gain recognition from others and
earn good grades
• Learning Goals: student is motivated by desire
for knowledge acquisition and self-improvement
• So which kind of goals do you have for this
course?

27. The Flow Model
• Have you ever been so
engrossed in something that you
lose track of time?
• How do you feel after you’ve
completed an enjoyable, yet
challenging activity?
• If you have ever experienced
what I’m talking about, then you
have been in the FLOW!

28. The Flow Model
• Developed in the 1990s
• by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (“mee-hah-lee”
“chick-sent-me-high-ee”) from Hungary (what a
great name!)
• to describe an intensely motivated person
• Definition:
 A state of optimal experience characterized by
total concentration and absorption in a
challenging activity that engenders a sense of
control, interest, enjoyment, even exhilaration
 Sounds cool, huh?

29. The Flow Model
• In order to understand this model, give an
example of the following activities and think
about how they made you feel:
 Something that is not challenging & requires little
skill for it (making a sandwich)
 Something that is not challenging, but you have
a lot of skill for it (attending a conference)
 Something that is very challenging, but you have
little skill for it (reading a difficult textbook)
 Something that is very challenging & you have a
lot of skill for it (writing a dissertation….although I
didn’t always feel this way)
• This is FLOW!

30. The Flow Model
Here he is!

31. Teacher’s Role in Motivation
• So now you know all these motivation theories,
but what is your role in motivation as a teacher?
• We will look at:
 The ARCS model
 Extrinsic & Intrinsic motivators
 Anxiety
 Teacher expectations

32. The ARCS Model
• ARCS Model:
 Attention
• capturing students’ interests and curiosity
 Relevance
• meeting students’ personal needs and goals
 Confidence
• helping students believe that they will succeed
 Satisfaction
• reinforcing students’ accomplishments through
extrinsic or intrinsic rewards
• This model really captures the teacher’s role in
motivation (notice that I said the teacher only plays role here
and is not solely responsible for student motivation)

33. Extrinsic v. Intrinsic Motivators
• Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivators
 Intrinsic: Learning for learning’s sake
 Extrinsic: Rewards for learning
How do you motivate students?
What are some common extrinsic rewards?
Which type of motivator work best for you?
• Keep in mind, research has shown that
excessive use of extrinsic motivators can
actually undermine students’ intrinsic
motivation!

34. The Role of Anxiety in Performance
• Is anxiety always a bad thing?
• There is a curvilinear relationship between
anxiety and performance
A little bit is good,
too much or not
enough is bad
Anxiety

35. The Role of Teacher Expectations
• This is HUGE!
• Students will only give you what you expect
from them.
• If you expect little, that’s exactly what you’re
going to get!
• Don’t be afraid to raise the bar, show them that
you are confident in their ability to be successful
(and let them know that you’ll be there to help
them along the way)

36. One last note …
What else can teachers do to
increase student motivation?
Set high and Recognize
positive efforts and
expectations for improvement
students s
Make learning
meaningful
and authentic
Others….?

37. Any questions?
For clarification or additional information,
please review chapter 10,
ask a classmate
or contact the instructor