Research, Research, Research

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I've been busy researching motivation and had a desperate need to stop and try to organize my thoughts. I've been looking into intrinsic motivation and if we can find ways to help others to develop their motivation.

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This lead me to discover Self-determination theory, which is concerned around the choices people make without influence and includes research into intrinsic motivation. There are many other theories involved in this idea but Cognitive Evaluation Theory caught my interest, It is listed as one of the SDT's mini theory's and relates to intrinsic motivation. It discusses how a prototype of intrinsic motivation is children’s exploration and play, I found this interesting I believed that intrinsic motivation would be a concept to mature for a child to grasp but hadn't connected a child's need or want to learn. SDT also covers the effect extrinsic rewards have on intrinsic motivation with fascinating results,

Edward L. Deci is a Professor of Psychology and Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Rochester, and director of its human motivation program. He is well known in psychology for his theories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs. With Richard Ryan, he is the co-founder of self-determination theory.  Deci (1971) performed several experiments to support his theory's. The first conducted of two separate control groups the same  number of puzzles. The first group where given no external motivators but the second where offered money for each puzzle they completed. During each of the three sessions,subjects were left alone in the experimental room for an eight minute"free choice" period. They could work on the puzzles, read magazines, or do whatever they liked. The results showed that the subjects were less intrinsically motivated after the experience with money than subjects who performed the same activity for no pay.


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I found this article called Increasing Student Success Through Instruction in Self-Determination by American Psychological Association. Again it discusses the negative effect extrinsic rewards can have on intrinsic motivation, however it takes a more detailed view towards the student.

Numerous studies have found that students who are more involved in setting educational goals are more likely to reach their goals. When students perceive that the primary focus of learning is to obtain external rewards, such as a grade on an exam, they often perform more poorly, think of themselves as less competent, and report greater anxiety than when they believe that exams are simply a way for them to monitor their own learning. Some studies have found that the use of external rewards actually decreased motivation for a task for which the student initially was motivated.

(2004)

I found this very interesting and backs up the studies from SDT but also brings into focus something I have been struggling to wrap my brain around. I have noticed students entered for exams sometimes become worse during class and always put this down to the stress they where under, they can sometimes be entered for 3 or 4 major exams at once and find it hard to manage their time between each subject. A few students start to feel upset and generally unmotivated at this point.

Schools throughout the country are using self-determination instruction as a way to better motivate students and meet the growing need to teach children and youth ways to more fully accept responsibility for their lives by helping them to identify their needs and develop strategies to meet those needs

(2004)

So I feel my focus should not be on getting the students to work for a scheduled exam but to take control of their own learning, identify their needs and how they can achieve them and set realistic timelines and strategies for accomplishing their goals. But also to take time to look at the 'Bigger picture' why they are wanting to gain the qualifications they are studying for? What is it they want to achieve?


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I decided to do a little more research into SDT and how it can help with student motivation. I found a website dedicated to creating more self-determined lives. It has information about what SDT is and more importantly how to promote it,

There model for self-determination is split into four parts

PART 1

Know Yourself and Your Context
Knowing yourself includes knowing your strengths, weaknesses and needs, if we take time to understand ourselves we can create realistic goals. Having a variety of experiences to draw from and knowledge of a wide array of options helps us make informed choices. Finally, we need good decision-making skills to help us weigh the benefits and potential pitfalls of our potential goals and actions.

Value Yourself
To be self-determined we need to believe in ourselves and know that we have the right to pursue what we desire. This includes excepting our weaknesses. The more we are able to accept our weaknesses, even though we don’t like them, it is more likely that the power of  weaknesses over us will be minimized. We will also then increase our ability to take action aimed at correcting weaknesses if we choose to.When we value ourselves we take care of ourselves emotionally, mentally, and physically. It is hard to imagine successfully accomplishing, or even identifying, important goals if we’re overly tired, stressed, or otherwise physically, mentally, or emotionally unhealthy.

Self-determination doesn’t happen by ourselves alone. We are social creatures and we need good relationships to be self-determined. Ryan and Deci (2000) identified relatedness as one of three psychological needs that needs to be met to foster increased self-determination. In our research to identify the personal characteristics associated with self-determination the most common response to our question “what helps you be self-determined?” was “friends and family”. Not surprisingly, the most frequent answer to our question “what gets in the way of your self-determination?” was the same: “friends and family”.  Experiencing the warmth, security and sense of support that comes from creating and nurturing positive relationships in our lives is one of the most important elements that can advance our self-determination.

PART 2

Plan
In order to achieve we need to set our-self goals. Planning and preparation is a vital part of that. In order for us to realize those goals our BIG VISION we need to plan our long term and short term goals that will help us to arrive at our desired outcome.

We need to be able to see the BIG VISION and then create baby steps to get there.

PART 3

Act
We achieve outcomes by taking action. Taking action always involves risk, but through action we can develop knowledge and confidence. To act we need to take risks, communicate, negotiate, deal with conflict and criticism, access resources and support and be persistent.

The ability to persevere in spite of obstacles is an essential element of ongoing self-determination.

PART 4

Experience the outcomes and learn
We need to consciously reflect on our experiences. we need to compare the actual outcome of our efforts to the desired outcome. Did we achieve what we set out to achieve? Did we like the outcomes we obtained from our efforts, whether or not it was what we set our to attain?

Achieving the outcome we initially set out to attain is not the essential point.  Any attempt we make toward self-determination provides opportunity to experience and learn from the outcomes that occur.

Model of Self-Determination. Revised (2014) by S. Field and A. Hoffman. Ealy Education Group, Inc.

I feel that this model may come in handy with my focus group, I could moderate it or create my own and ask the students to follow the model to reach one of their goals. I wounder if the results would be different from what they encounter now? Any thoughts?.....  



Resources



Increasing Student Success Through Instruction in Self-Determination, American Psychological Association, July 21, 2004

DECI, E. L. The effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation.
Journal o] Personality and Social Psychology, 1971