All educators need to be aware of the concept of motivation if he /she is to effect any meaningful change in a student/ individual. Lyons, C. (2003) explains that "motivation" comes from the Latin word "movere" which means to "set in motion". The root of motivation is' motive' which is an inner drive, impulse, incentive, goal to be reached that causes a person to act in a certain way. According to Lyons, "Motivation" is an internal state of mind that an individual must activate himself. It is self - generated and happens within the child. In other words , it is not done to the child.
There are basically two types of motivation:
i. Intrinsic - an internal desire to become involved in an activity that reflects the genuine inclinations of the child.
ii. Extrinsic- this is an individual's involvement in an activity because an incentive or reward external to the activity has been offered.
The overarching goal of motivation is to promote the development of motivation that arises from the child's own nature and inclinations. In other words, children must be intrinsically motivated to become self- regulater, independent, life - long learners.
Motivation coupled with interest can be the factors that would capture the student's attention for meaningful learning to take place. When you awaken curiosity in students, they would want to find out more about the topic or particular skill. This would certainly be intrinsic motivation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that one of our main goal is to promote or to foster intrinsic motivation, but don't you get the feeling sometimes that there is very little in school to offer some students much less to motivate them intrinsically? I teach at an inner city school where most of the students come from areas with gangs, guns, murder and a host of other criminal activities. The students believe in immediate gratification because their culture is one of no tomorrows. How do you motivate these students to learn when their interest is outside the scope of the curriculum?
ReplyDelete