Motivating 21st Century Students

DAN PINK: THE PUZZLE OF MOTIVATION

In Dan Pink’s Ted talk: The Puzzle of Motivation he points out a very true concept that an “if-then” motivation approach most often than not limits creativity and has negative on the outcome of a given task or project.  Hence, incentives are not necessarily an optimal motivator.  When rewards are offered or expected for a specific task, people tend to show poorer or not up to full potential performance.  This can and is true in many settings: as he mentions in a business model for encyclopedias Encarta and Wikipedia or at a more basic and everyday setting, our classrooms. 

The if-then motivation system is an easy trap to fall into, especially when treating with young children as we do in the ECC where they will easily do a task for a small yet luring reward.  Do not get me wrong, I believe that in order for rewards to fulfill an educational purpose they must go hand in hand with autonomy, mastery and purpose.  These three concepts are what Dan Pink mentions to be the real triggers of high performance.  These are ideas that are fostered in most of our classrooms everyday, where we aim to foster student led learning, inquiry, project based learning, where it is through student exploration that they will learn best, and have a more meaningful and enriching experience that is relevant to each student.  Let’s not limit our students’ potential with achievable tasks, but instead, lets give them the tools for them to surprise us with what they can accomplish.

Assignment #PA3a

What is PBL?

Tutorial - What is PBL? video

These charts depict the major differences between traditional class and project based learning (PBL).   They were created with the use of Cacoo.

 Mainly, in the traditional classroom, the traditional way to attack a project is introduced by the teacher.  The material to be taught-learnt is based in curriculum expectation and administered during the unit by the teacher.  Students are introduced to the information and topic at hand, activities, classroom research and traditional testing at the end of the unit motivated by grade obtained.

In PBL the main focus is on a project that will teach students about the unit itself.  In PBL students are guided by the teachers on the subject and expectations, mainly as facilitators.  However, students inquire and learn on their own throughengagement, exploration and application.  Themes are relevant and through the completion of the project students learn about real problem solving techniques and applications.  In the end, PBL is reflective and shows what and how students really learned about a certain topic, subject or unit.