Can you create motivation?

I've been thinking more about motivation and what pathway my inquiry should go in the process to develop my set of questions. I have touched on motivation and commitment in previous blogs what I have concluded is lack of motivations seems to be more evident with children ages 13+. I would like to do a little research into what influences effect motivation. For example, 

Are children more likely to be motivated if they wish to pursue dance as a career? 

How much does self-esteem or confidence effect motivation?

Is it a confidence issue or an unconscious process? 

Is there something we can do as teachers to help these students express themselves and work to their best ability or is it simply a maturity problem? 

I also mentioned a problem that has arisen in discussions many times with my colleagues at the college I teach, students are 16+. Admittedly we all feel that as students are already pursuing a career in the Arts a level of motivation is already involved, however myself and my colleagues feel that students could show greater motivation towards self-development, when extrinsic motivation may not be present.

I had a discussion with Paula yesterday in regards to my line of Inquiry she posed an interesting question and one I had not thought of before. The idea behind whether we create motivation in others intrigued me. Is it possible to motivate another person? After all we cannot be there constantly to give them the push they need to succeed we can only inspire them to motivate themselves. I remember studying motivation briefly during college when working towards my teaching qualifications. Motivation can be divided into two types: intrinsic (internal) motivation and extrinsic (external) motivation. By definition intrinsic motivation is self-desire, is this something we can influence or is it purely at the control of the individual? Extrinsic is more easily used as it is defined as influences outside of the individual, exams and goals for example. This reminded me of a comment Lizzie Martin left on my blog 'Inquiry Thoughts'. Lizzie made an interesting comment about motivation related to performance in class, she believes that children who perform to audiences on regular occasions are more motivated to re-enact that level of performance in class. Does the motivation to want to perform come from internal or external influences I made comment that although the school where I work does not participate in many performances throughout a school year I find exams are a great extrinsic motivator for my children? Once they are given the goal of an exam date or possible entry of an exam their level of commitment to better there technique and performance increases, as does their attendance and concentration during class.  

I think extrinsic motivation is easier to understand and control, however what about those classes where extrinsic motivation is harder to use. Although the larger percentage of my work is based around syllabus classes (I do take a few regular free classes) I regularly talk to my colleges who work on the musical theatre course at college. They work with the students to develop their skills of performing professionally once they graduate from college. As there is no grade or exam, no guarantee of a job after graduation does most of the students motivation need to come from within themselves? If the motivation comes from within what can we do to help inspire motivation where it is lacking?  

Is it possible to influence intrinsic motivation?

So which line of inquiry do I feel would benefit myself and my fellow teacher’s best? 

I feel the answer to this question will help me to narrow my focus and help me to pick a line of inquiry that will influence how I conduct classes in future. I feel two lines of focus have presented themselves. One is the way in which self-confidence effects motivation and the effect peer pressure has on an individual’s motivation towards performance, I feel this line of inquiry would be best suited to children aged 13 - 16. My seconded is aimed at college students aged 16+ and would investigate their ability to self-motivate without and strong extrinsic influences and what we as teachers could do to inspire and influence their motivation.