Friday, September 30, 2011

Stimulating student enthusiasm

Continuing the discussion of a couple of days ago of The Progress Principle, since progress is so important for motivation, how can it be stimulated? The research described in The Progress Principle was conducted in work environments, not in schools, but the conclusions seem reasonable.

The researchers found that the following events acted as the seven major catalysts to recognizing progress and thus being motivated by it.

1. Setting clear goals.
2. Allowing autonomy.
3. Providing resources.
4. Giving enough time...but not too much.
5. Help with the work.
6. Learning from problems and successes.
7. Allowing ideas to flow.

These seem mostly self-explanatory. Help with the work is about collaboration. It works in business and we know it works for students too. Learning from problems and successes is about accepting problems and failures as the pathway to success. Allowing ideas to flow is about engaging in discussion and debate about the project at hand.

Posted at 12:00 AM Keywords: progress 0 Comments