Helping to Motivate Student Learners

I recently read an article called “The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development” by Suzanne Hidi and K. Ann Renniger. The authors describe the phases learners progress through in developing interest in a subject area.  I kept looking at their model as it related to how educators can help encourage interest development in their students. Being a math instructor, I am constantly looking for ways to capture the imagination of my students and encourage their interest in mathematics. After reading Hidi’s and Renniger’s model, I was able to verbalize what had previously been more of an intuition on my part: the teacher’s own interest plays a key role in encouraging a student’s interest in a subject area.

At the beginning of the article, Hidi and Renniger observe that teachers often “do not have a clear understanding of their potential role in helping students to develop interest” (p. 111). Many instructors believe simply that students either have an interest in their subject matter or they do not, but the reality is that creating situational interest and then sustaining that interest over the long term is greatly within the control of the teacher and the classroom environment created by that teacher. I remember when I first started teaching, the question “Are we ever going to use this math stuff in real life?” was asked regularly. Upon reflection, I did not have a good answer in response. Except for keeping me in a job, using a quadratic equation has never crossed my daily life either practically or philosophically! Then, a few years ago, I was introduced to TED videos during a faculty inservice. Since that time, I have used TED videos regularly in my classroom instruction to help bridge the gap between the abstract use of mathematics and the potential and exciting applications of mathematics in the real world. Couple of examples:

Robert Lang has an excellent presentation on TED explaining how origami and mathematics have combined to produce stunning new applications in the real world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html 

Ray Kurzweil has an awe-inspiring presentation where he uses mathematics to demonstrate how advancements in creative products will produce mind-boggling breakthroughs in health, education, welfare in the coming years.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ray_kurzweil_announces_singularity_university.html 

I have come to regularly use TED to help inspire and motivate my students. Creating a rich and imaginative atmosphere in my classroom has led to the extinction of that dreaded question (Are we ever going to use this stuff?) forever.

A second thought occurred to me while reading the article. The research literature is pretty clear that intrinsic motivation -- motivation that comes from within -- seems to be more instrumental in encouraging and sustaining interest development than extrinsic motivation. Making the transition from a situational, external interest to a sustained, ongoing internal interest seems to be key for helping create life-long learners in any content area. The question is what is our role as educators in helping to make that transition in our students? I am a big believer in creating a rich educational environment no matter what the content area being studied. Exposing students to a variety of applications like TED, offering different projects as a means of assessment, using a variety of pedagogical methods, group work, etc., is most likely the best way to encourage and sustain that interest especially in a young learner.