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Effect of Grades on Learning I
The question of whether we should use marks, ranging from 0 – 100, or grades, usually A+ to F is a topic that often vexes teachers and can lead to heated discussions. There is scientific evidence that speaks to the topic. The question is complicated by marking rubrics and isn’t a stand-alone…
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Effect of Grades on Learning II
Scott Wilson asked a question in a comment on another article I wrote about the effect of grades on learning. Here is a blog entry from one of my students from a few years ago on the exact topic. I have copied it in full because linking to a post doesn’t allow for sharing…
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The Audience Effect – Motivation
An audience has always been a part of any writing. In the past, an audience was an abstract entity or a “work of fiction” (Ong, 1975, p. 9) that was imagined by the writer. This imagined entity determined the form of writing, the voice the writer takes and the genre of the…
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Mindset
Carol Dweck is the principle figure behind mindset theory and in my opinion is one of the giants in the science of learning. To understand where Dweck is coming from, we need to go back decades. In the early 1980’s Dweck started looking into the perplexing question of why females consistently score…
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Usefulness and Interest (MUSIC MODEL of Motivation)
The two aspects of academic motivation I am focussing on seem obvious for motivation: usefulness and interest. As obvious as they may appear, they are aspects that don’t usually get the attention (or the kind of attention) they need in education. Usefulness Usefulness has to do with the perception that the learner…
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Motivating Students Academically (MUSIC Model)
Work by Jones (2009) brought together the research on academic motivation and found that there are five principles that run throughout the academic motivation literature (remember, this is real research and not just someone’s good ideas). They are empowerment, usefulness, belief, interest, and caring. In my own research and experience, I would add…
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Internalization of Motivation
We can reinforce intrinsic motivation in learners, but it takes effort to do it right. With reinforcement for learners, we can maintain intrinsic motivation in learners, in spite of the opposition from the system (system – I hate that word because it means no one is responsible, and everyone is helpless to…
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Extrinsic Motivation in Education
After talking about both extrinsic and extrinsic motivation, how does this apply to education? I’ll start by touching on some of the extrinsic motivators in education that get us and our students to play our part. In formal education, the further along you progress, the more extrinsic the motivators become. By the…
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Intrinsic Motivation
When I was growing up, I was a Yankees baseball fan. They were winning, my third-grade teacher read us a story about Mickey Mantle, and my dad loved the Dodgers – so I picked the Yankees. I listened to an interview on the radio with Reggie Jackson one day – Mr. October…
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Extrinsic Motivation
Ryan and Deci are the two principle researchers in this field, and they tell us that intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one’s capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge. It is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and…