Motivation changes within children as they grow from an intrinsic focus to an extrinsic focus. With extrinsic motivation, students engage in activity to obtain an external reward, while intrinsic motivation means the activity is itself rewarding. However, student's intrinsic motivation for academic tasks from elementary to middle school declines. This is due to changes in the structure of the classroom environment, greater focus on grades and evaluations of performance, and the over use of extrinsic rewards for learning. Task contingent rewards, given for completing a task or an activity diminish intrinsic motivation and students view task contingent rewards as controlling and work only to get the reward. On the other hand, performance contingent rewards are less likely to undermine intrinsic motivation and can enhance it. Praise also enhances intrinsic motivation because it is unexpected and provides feedback. However, praise may decrease intrinsic motivation if teachers use it as feedback for just easy tasks or use it in an insincere matter. Teachers have ways in which they can create an intrinsically motivating environment. It is important to convey the importance of a new lesson or concept and spark interest in academic subjects by using enthusiasm and surprise. Teachers need to provide students with a choice in learning tasks and appropriately display students' work, which creates positive feelings about achievement.
One question I have about motivation and behavioral therapy is when would it be appropriate to use task contingent rewards and performance contingent rewards? What is the most effective way to evaluate a student on their motivation and if the methods that the teacher is using are being effective or not?
When teaching, you could unintentionally cause learned helplessness by not displaying student work in order to emphasize effort, creativity, and pride in accomplishments. Displaying student work can lead to an increase in intrinsic motivation to do better and if teachers do not think about this and do not display student work, then students will not be as motivated to do well when they do not see their peer's work and want to strive to do better and accomplish more in class. However, it is important to make sure that the focus on student's display is not competitive so making sure the intention is to show improvement over past performance and conveys the message that there is more than one way to complete a project is necessary. This will create positive feelings about effort, ownership, achievement, and responsibility.
I think our video/discussion on Wednesday might shed light on your question. If you are giving students a task that requires some complex thinking or creativity, it might be best to use a task contingent reward (if a reward is appropriate at all for the situation), because we saw how studies show that rewards just DON'T increase performance with complex or 'outside the box' kinds of tasks. Performance contingent rewards might work if the tasks is relatively straightforward and you care about speed (you want the children to line up as quickly as possible in a fire drill).
ReplyDeleteYour example is interesting. I see your reasoning, but it is counterintuitive to what I would have originally thought. I thought of having work displayed as a form of extrinsic reward (which typically decreases intrinsic motivation). I think you're making a good point that it could increase pride and self efficacy if used occasionally. I think you also make a good point in that NEVER displaying work could communicate that the teacher doesn't care about the things that are turned in (make students feel helpless). I also like communicating that there's more than one way to complete a project--great point to emphasize, especially when praising work for particular qualities!