Connections between Motivation, Engagement, and Learning

Banas (2015) stated in the lecture, Hansen, a researcher on motivation

theory, explains that students tend to adopt one of four approaches for classroom

tasks, depending on their expectations and values: engaging, dissembling,

evading, and rejecting. A students approach to learning can provide information

about students behavioral, emotional, and cognitive motivation. Students who are

engaged behaviorally, cognitively, and/or emotionally in school are more likely to

feel better about themselves, be satisfied with their lives, and enjoy higher work

quality later in life (Gallup, 2013). All three levels of motivation are necessary for

successful learning engagement. An engaged student is confident with their ability

to complete a task they value. An engaged student is intrinsically motivated to

engage and perform tasks because they find them interesting, appealing, and

satisfying, and thus perform the behaviors out of interest, pleasure, and pure

enjoyment (Zimmerman, Schmidt, Becker, Peterson, Nyland & Surdick, 2014). The

connection between engagement, motivation and learning is evident. Students

must be engaged to be motivated to learn.

Engaging, dissembling and evading are the behaviors observed in my biology

classes. According to the motivation theory, a students motivation depends on

their perception of their capability and value of the task. The behaviors

demonstrated indicate low self-efficacy or the task is not relevant and holds little

value or both. Building relationships with students is the first step towards

differentiating the behaviors. By asking authentic questions, teachers gather

information that enables them to make the material more relevant to students

everyday lives (Corso, Bundick, Quaglia & Hayword, 2013). As Banas (2015) stated

in the lecture, its the quest to uncover the reasons why one student doesnt want
to go to school, and another that cant wait to get there. Evaluation of a students

motivations and perceptions will provide essential information necessary for

modifying instruction and activities to reflect student interests and real-world

applications. When a student is finds the material relevant, they will most likely be

engaged and motivated to learn.

To meet student needs, teachers must adjust both curriculum and

instruction for various groups of students (Dixon, Yssel, McConnell and

Hardin, 2014, p.113). The ARCS model can be used to evaluate and modify a

unit plan with the goal to increase student engagement and motivation.

Relevance is an important component of the ARCS model because in order

to engage, students need assistance to deepen and attach value to a

learning task (Banas, 2015). Understanding a students goal orientation,

matching their motives and needs as well as providing opportunities for

students to transfer their new knowledge and skills is essential for

integrating relevance into a unit plan. Modifications can include integrating

a learning journal to support self-regulated learning and creating a menu

board of activities that students will select to demonstrate their learning.

Differentiating the instruction of the unit will increase student engagement

and motivation because students will make choices based off of their

interests, relevance and confidence. The key to impacting student learning

in a successful way is to increase student engagement and motivation daily.

How to Engage the Disengaged Learner

 Self-regulation refers to behaviors and habits that help learners persist in

accomplishing goals (Banas, 2015). Students that are self-regulated learners have

an understanding of how they learn and what strategies will assist with reaching

their goal. They set goals, monitor, regulate and control their perceptions (Banas,

2015). A self-regulated learner understands the different cognitive activities

necessary to work through a task. Too often, we fail to cultivate these

competencies in each and every student (Bell & Pape, 2014). Disengaged

learners need to be guided through the process of how to set goals, monitor their

progress as well as self-regulate and control their perceptions.

Intrinsically motivated students want to learn because they are curious,

seek knowledge, are interested in self-improvement, and learning gives them

satisfaction (Buckmaster & Carroll, 2009, p. 53). According Banass (2015) lecture,

interest is associated with improved cognitive performance. A students

engagement in an activity correlates with their interest. Personal interest involves

the students individual interest in the topic where situational interest is generated

by immediate excitement or interest for the task at hand. Teachers cant expect all

of their learners to be personally interested, but generating situational interest can

get students to try something theyre unfamiliar with (Banas, 2015). The

situational interest about the content can be peaked with engaging anticipatory set

followed by meaningful and appropriately challenging tasks (Banas, 2015).

Building interest to foster intrinsic motivation requires identifying areas of

personal interest as well as generating situational interest. TARGET is another

model that can be utilized to integrate engagement into instruction daily will benefit

student motivation and engagement. TARGETs focus is on creating curiosity and

interest in the task, grabbing the students attention in addition to adding relevance
to the task. To engage the students, there needs to be an attached value to the

learning task (Banas, 2015). The student needs to understand the importance of

the task as well as have the confidence to attempt to master the task. Allowing

students to choose from a menu of options to demonstrate mastery of task puts the

responsibility and the accountability into the hands of the student. The teacher can

create options that are appropriate to the level of confidence of the students in the

class. Opportunities to make choices allows the students to exercise self-regulation

skills. Last, the teacher needs to be consistent with evaluation and meaningful

feedback to build self-regulation. Autonomy allows for the student to develop their

personal interest in the content because they are selecting what mastery goal they

are interested in developing and improving. Evaluation of the task completed by

the student will focus on the students improvement and mastery of the concept

rather than performance.

Mastery Goal and Performance Goal Practices

At the heart of the school culture is its goal orientation (Banas, 2015). The

structure of the school goals can foster a competitive culture or a culture of

learning, improving and developing. The culture of the school affects the

engagement and motivation of the students. My school is now focusing more on

mastery goals versus performance goals. However, it was not always this way. The

previous administrator was very concerned with the school academic performance

index score and as a result would only admit students with high grade point

averages and standardized test scores. The emphasis was on performance and

very little emphasis on improving and developing. The same stress was placed

upon the teachers as well, and the performance of the teacher was related to
student test scores. A change in the administrator as well as the elimination of the

academic performance index has fueled a change not only within our school but

within our district. Schools no longer compete to have the highest API which has

changed the recruitment process. Students select the high school based off of their

interest in the available small learning communities. The emphasis is on developing

academic and social skills through collaboration. The culture of the school has

changed for the better.

The recognition of students is one way our school is working to change the

values, beliefs and traditions of the school. Each semester students are recognized

for improvements in academics and citizenship rather than just focusing on the

students with the highest grades. The development of a student advisory board has

increased the communication between the faculty and the students. Students have

opportunity to provide insight into the orientation of the goals of the school.

Students who perceive their learning environment as a place that fosters

autonomy and self-direction and find their education to be useful and relevant are

more intrinsically motivated (Radovan & Makovec, 2015). Creating this method of

communication was necessary to ensure that students are motivated and engaged.

The entire school (small school of 500) works together to put on an art event in

place of open house. Every student and teacher is involved and the entire

community is invited. The goal is to provide a platform for students to demonstrate

their learning and development of skills in a variety of ways rather than focus on

grades.

A reflective journal is strategy that can be used to establish mastery goal

orientation in my class. The students would use the journal to develop personal

goals, reflect on strategies used in class, record their behavior and habits towards
the task in class. The journal would not be graded but used as a place to reflect

upon what has worked for the student and what did not work for the student that

particular day. The goal is for the student to evaluate the impact of their choices

and gage their level of improvement. I would be able to conference with the

student about their choices, progress and next-steps. According to Vorster (2011),

we need to focus more on our students and on how we can encourage them to

become independent learners than on our command of the teaching process (p.

921). Providing the student with adaptive feedback to ensure that the student does

not focus on ability but on the successful strategies that worked. Adaptive feedback

guides the student towards self-regulated learning by modeling how to monitor and

evaluate their progress. Requirements for the journal can change as the student

becomes comfortable with self-regulating learning techniques. Students can be

asked to journal about what they would do differently in regards to a task and how

did the task make them feel or setting a goal for the next task. Honest evaluation is

difficult, but provides the foundation for building self-efficacy and establishing

mastery goal orientation.

Conclusion

Learning is like most other tasks in that motivation is required to do your

best (Buckmaster & Carroll, 2009). Motivation is necessary for successful

engagement and learning. The disengaged learner can be engaged when guided

through the process of how to set goals, monitor their progress as well as self-

regulate and control their perceptions. It is necessary to provide opportunities for

students to build their self-confidence through tasks with mastery goal orientation

along with timely, adaptive feedback from the teacher. A safe learning environment
is essential for students to understand that learning is a process and mistakes are

viewed as new learning experiences. Differentiation of instruction and activities

also can increase student engagement and motivation because the student have a

choice in how they will demonstrate their learning rather than the typical one-size-

fits-all approach. A continual investment is necessary to build a culture that

promotes mastery goal orientation and focuses on the individual growth and

progress of each student to ensure academic success for all students.

 References

Banas, J. (n.d.) Student Engagement Module 1: Enabling Academic Success.

[video file]. Retrieved from American College of Education Student

Engagement https://ace.instructure.com

Banas, J. (n.d.) Student Engagement Module 4: Engaging All Learners. [video

file]. Retrieved from American College of Education Student

Engagement https://ace.instructure.com

Banas, J. (n.d.) Student Engagement Module 2: Strategies to Engage

Learners. [video file]. Retrieved from American College of Education

Student Engagement https://ace.instructure.com

Banas, J. (n.d.) Student Engagement Module 4: Engaging All Learners. [video

file]. Retrieved from American College of Education Student

Engagement https://ace.instructure.com

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