Tesi sul tema "Motivation in education"

As discussed in past literature, high school students often lack motivation towards learning (Crow, 2007; Lumsden, 1995). This lack of motivation interferes with student learning (Lumsden,1995; Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Soenens, & Matos, 2005). At the middle school and collegiate level, Socratic Seminar is seen to provide motivation towards learning in students (Copeland, 2005; Mee, 2000; Strong, 1996); however, there is a need for research on student motivation as a result of Socratic Seminar at the high school level.

The purpose of this study is to identify the extent to which, if any, differences exist in student motivation towards learning among students receiving English instruction via Socratic Seminar versus traditional lecture at the high school level. It was hypothesized that Socratic Seminar provides a better opportunity for students to experience the IV pillars of motivation as described by John Keller (1987a)--attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction--than traditional lecture does.

A quantitative correlational design was implemented with a cross-sectional data collection administered post-implementation of traditional lecture 3 times and post-implementation of Socratic Seminar 3 times over an 8-week period with 139 11th grade English students at Lutheran High School of Orange County. The responses were viewed as a group through the application of chi-squares. Next, chi-squares were applied to analyze the group's results for each question from the modified CIS. Then, the results were analyzed via Cramer's V within the individual constructs of motivation as described by the CIS, which include: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction.

The results displayed Socratic Seminar as providing a more motivating experience towards learning in certain areas of motivation while lecture was seen to be more motivating for other areas of motivation. It was originally believed the application of Socratic Seminar would provide higher student motivation toward learning. From these results, it was learned that teachers must seek a balanced approach in their teaching by applying both Socratic Seminar and lecture. In a broader sense, the lesson learned is that different teaching strategies motivate students in different ways and a wide range of teaching strategies ought to be applied.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of motivation in the persistence of adults enrolled in online higher education. Since the 1990’s, online courses and programs have proliferated across higher education, with adults (ages 25 and over) currently making up the largest portion of online enrollments. Online courses, however, suffer from a higher rate of student attrition than their hybrid and face-to-face counterparts. Although it is difficult to attribute the high rate of attrition in online education to any one factor, research has identified a lack of motivation as a primary cause of student dropout. Likewise, studies have shown that when motivation is present, learners are more likely to persist in their coursework. In order to develop a deeper understanding of this issue, a phenomenological approach was chosen as the most appropriate method for this study.

Participants for this study were at least 25 years of age and were enrolled in an online class at a large public university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. In adhering to the phenomenological method, open-ended, in-depth interviews were used to investigate how adult learners experience motivation in online higher education. Transcendental phenomenological analysis was then used to determine the essence of this experience. During the first stage of this process, twelve distinct themes emerged from the data, including Relevance and Applicability, Communication, Flexibility, and Instructor Presence. During the next stage, three additional structural themes were identified: Relation to Self, Relationship with Others, and Time. During the final stage of analysis, the essence of this experience was revealed as the participants’ Goal Commitment and their Need for Guidance.

Key findings from this study include the confirmation of motivation as a critical component in the persistence of adult online learners. In addition, a number of factors were identified as key facilitators and barriers to persistence in adults learning online. In developing an in-depth understanding of the link between motivation and persistence in this particular sample of learners, the results of this study may potentially contribute to addressing the overall larger problem of high rates of attrition in online higher education.

Syftet med studien är att få en ökad kunskap om vad som motiverar elever i årskurs fem i lärarledda lärandesituationer. Valet att utföra studien i årskurs fem beror på att vi under vår studietid har mött elever i denna årskurs och har ställt oss undrande till vad det är som motiverar dem. Motivation är ett begrepp som har genomsyrat lärarutbildningen och på grund av detta ville vi veta mer om hur eleverna uppfattar begreppet. Flera teoretiker menar att elevers motivation till lärande kan påverkas av såväl inre som yttre faktorer samt diverse behov. Jenner (2004) anser att det även finns en tredje faktor där eleverna tycks pendla mellan faktorerna. Ett resonemang som gjorde oss nyfikna och ligger till grund för studiens uppkomst.

Metoden som studien bygger på är av kvalitativ art och totalt deltog sex intervjupersoner. Resultatet visade att det är många olika faktorer som påverkar elevernas motivation, bland annat lustfyllt lärande, positiv feed-back, bra och omtänksamma lärare, kompisrelationer och engagerade föräldrar.

The Missouri School Improvement Plan’s fourth standard addresses the importance of attendance to the accreditation of school districts. Because of this standard many school districts are in need of a successful plan to increase attendance; therefore, this study was designed to determine the extrinsic motivators educators use to encourage attendance and the influence the motivators have on students. The population for this study included accredited public school districts in the west central and southwest regions of Missouri. A stratified sample consisting of 45 high schools was selected from public school districts with 400 or fewer students in grades K-12 during the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015 school years. From this group, 20 high school principals agreed to participate in the study. Principals completed a survey which was designed to identify extrinsic motivators used to increase attendance rates in their respective districts. Survey results indicated nine different motivators were used among the 20 schools with a final exam exemption identified as the most frequently used and most effective motivator. Attendance data from the Annual Performance Report (APR) for each participating high school were collected. The data revealed only four of the 20 high schools recorded an increase in average daily attendance in school years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015; however, the majority of the 20 high schools’ attendance rates were higher than the average daily attendance rate of the state. When attendance rates were reviewed with the survey results, there was little or no increase in attendance rates based on the number of motivators used in the participating high schools.

Forskning pekar på brister i dagens matematikundervisning som bland annat handlar om elevers motivation. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka gymnasieelevers studiemotivation i ämnet matematik. Genom intervjustudier har elevers upplevelser av deras mål, självförtroende och inflytande kopplats till teorier om motivation.

Motivation är ett begrepp som har utvecklats av många forskare under en längre tid, vilket har lett till ett flertal infallsvinklar. I skolan är mål, självförtroende och inflytande några av möjliga faktorer som påverkar elevers motivation. Elevernas mål i undervisningen betraktas med utgångspunkt i relationen mellan lärandemål och prestationsmål. Självförtroendet tolkas utifrån elevernas upplevelser av mot- och medgångar. Till sist behandlas inflytande utifrån elevers syn på inflytande över undervisning och planering. Vad gäller motivation jämförs inre faktorer såsom intresse och känslor med yttre faktorer såsom belöningar och bestraffningar.

Resultatet av undersökningen visar tydliga kopplingar mellan litteraturen och elevernas uppfattningar. Bland annat beskriver eleverna en slentrianmässig undervisning med föga möjligheter till inflytande. En tydlig provkultur påverkar elevernas självförtroende och skapar prestationsinriktade mål för undervisningen.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka vad som motiverar elever till att lära sig i skolan, samt få kunskap om hur jag som lärare kan hjälpa omotiverade elever att hitta lusten till fortsatt lärande. Svaren på frågeställningarna har sökts dels i litteratur och dels genom intervjuer med elever i år åtta.

Resultatet visar att det som främst motiverar eleverna är att få bra betyg, att bygga en bra grund inför fortsatta studier, och att kunna skaffa sig en bra utbildning för att senare få ett bra arbete. Eleverna stimuleras även när något är roligt. Humor och glädje skapar lust hos eleverna. Exempel på andra viktiga motivationskällor är läraren och dennes personlighet och undervisningssätt, kamrater och skolmiljön.

Det här examensarbetet handlar om att motivera elever att lära sig engelska och hur man som lärare kan arbeta i grundskolan för att både starka och svaga elever ska vilja och kunna lära sig engelska. Arbetet består av en studie av Donya Feuers Shakespeareprojekt i Stockholm, en litteraturstudie och en undersökning gjord i en sjätteklass. Undersökningen består av ett försök att genomföra en serie lektioner i Donya Feuers anda samt en utvärdering. Studien visar att det är viktigt att motivera elever så att de ska finna det meningsfullt att lära sig och att det går att genomföra delar av Shakespeareprojektet i en klass av en lärare.

Private sector businesses employ performance pay compensation plans in order to incentivize increased employee effort. Legislation offers opportunities for school districts to experiment with performance pay plans in an attempt to encourage teacher effort, productivity, competition, and recruitment. Despite the potential benefits of performance pay, providing a task-contingent reward for an interesting activity has the tendency to undermine an individual’s intrinsic motivation for a task. This study sought to assess psychological ownership as a potential moderator for the undermining effect, which may shield an individual’s feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, allowing for intrinsic motivation in light of a task-contingent reward. This study analyzed data from 127 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled at Long Island University, CW Post Campus and an additional 27 teachers from Brooklyn, New York. Full and trimmed path analyses were conducted on a series of Likert-type scales to test three primary hypotheses. The findings confirmed that a task-contingent reward undermined intrinsic motivation for an interesting task. This study’s psychological ownership intervention and the combination of the intervention with a task-contingent reward also negatively effected intrinsic motivation. Job-based psychological ownership, a measurement of feelings of possession, however, did positively effect intrinsic motivation providing evidence that feelings of psychological ownership lead to feelings of intrinsic motivation. This study contributes to the fields of psychological ownership theory and self-determination theory by presenting empirical evidence connecting these two theories. Recommendations are offered for the improvement of teacher motivation, job design, compensation and educational policy.

Mitt syfte med denna intervjustudie var att ta reda på hur arbetsledningen motiverar de

anställda och hur de anställda ser på ledningens sätt att motivera. Studien har en kvalitativ

ansats, där intervjuer användes som datainsamlingsmetod. Resultatet visade att ledningen

försöker motivera sina anställda men att det är svårt då de av ekonomiska skäl hindras. Det

visade sig även att alla är överens om att det finns en god kommunikation mellan ledare och

medarbetare. Övrigt visade resultatet att såväl ledare som medarbetare anser att både lönen

och arbetsklimatet är viktigt för att man ska trivas på arbetsplatsen. En av slutsatserna som

kan dras utifrån studien är att man trivs på arbetet och att man visar ett engagemang i lärande.

Sammanfattning

Uppsatsen handlar om motivation utifrån ett lärarperspektiv. I ett försök att få en bild av begreppet motivation har idén varit att granska utgiven litteratur och publicerad forskning inom området. Med förhoppningen om att skaffa en verklighetsnära bild av hur lärare beskriver och resonerar kring begreppet har empiriska studier i form av intervjuer genomförts.

Genom att välja socialkonstruktionistisk teori som förhållningssätt har möjligheten givits att studera det som sägs i intervjuerna, utan att ifrågasätta huruvida detta är en korrekt beskrivning av verkligheten eller inte. Inom teorin ges språket en stor betydelse då det är genom detta förståelsen för omvärlden skapas.

Resultatet bygger på två intervjuer som vid olika tillfällen genomförts med en och samma lärare. Avsikten med intervjuerna har dels varit att följa lärarens resonemang rörande motivation på ett allmänt plan och dels med utgångspunkt från hur denne arbetar med området.

Undersökningen visar att det resonemang som förs tycks följa det som tidigare forskning redan beskrivit. En aspekt som framstår som speciellt viktig i den här undersökningen är behovet av en god relation mellan lärare och elev. Denna behöver nödvändigtvis inte skapas vid det första mötet mellan dem utan kan växa och utvecklas allteftersom arbetet och samarbetet pågår. I ett avseende skiljer sig resultatet från tidigare forskning. I tidigare publicerat material betonas vikten av att vardagsanknyta kurser. I undersökningen framförs ett resonemang kring huruvida detta omfattar alla elever eller inte.

Abstract

The essay concerns motivation from a teacher’s perspective. As an attempt to get an image of the conception of motivation the idea have been to examine released literature and published science in the field. In the hope of getting an illustration close to reality about how teachers describe and discuss the field, empirical studies in order of interviews have been carried out.

By choosing social constructivism as theory and standpoint, the possibilities have been given to study statement in interviews, without question if it is a correct description of the reality or not. Within the theory the language is given a great importance when it is through the language the understanding for the surrounding world is created.

The result is based on two interviews with one teacher alone. The intentions with the interviews have partly been to follow the teacher’s reasoning concerning motivation on a general level and also as a starting-point for understanding how this teacher uses this knowledge in practice.

The result of the study shows how the reasoning seems to follow what previous science already have described. One aspect which appears as particular important in this study is the need of a good relation between teachers and students. This do not necessarily have been created in the first meeting between them but can also grow and develop as the work and co-operation continues. In one reference the result differs from previous science. Earlier published material emphasizes the importance of connections to everyday life in courses. In study the teacher is reasoning about if this is applicable to all students or not.

This is a qualitative phenomenological study that examines teacher perceptions of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA). The purpose of this research was to analyze how educators’ perceptions of PERA influenced their workplace satisfaction and willingness to grow and improve. The study explores PERA in the context of neoliberal reform ideology and also through the lens of self-determination theory. Fourteen teachers from Central and Southern Illinois were interviewed and PERA, like other neoliberal education reforms, was shown to have a demotivating influence on the profession.

Research examining success in college and career suggests that success in college, when measured by GPA, may not be a strong predictor of success in work, including salary and career satisfaction. This study examined how individual person variables, such as personality, motivation and drive, may better the predictive value of GPA. Predictors of college success, extrinsic career success and intrinsic career success as measured by GPA, salary and job satisfaction, respectively, were examined. Three models were developed and analyzed using structural equation modeling. In the models, demographic variables, personality, work motivation and work drive were assessed. Participants included 64 male and female undergraduate participants from a small private university and 107 male and female graduates of the same university. Those with higher GPAs tended to be female and to show more Conscientiousness, work motivation and work drive. Higher salaries were associated with being male, having obtained a higher educational degree and being less neurotic. Higher career satisfaction was associated with being male, White, having obtained a higher educational degree, having a higher undergraduate GPA, being less neurotic and less open. Results highlight the incongruencies between the personal attributes that tend to be associated with success at school and those that tend to be associated with work.

This quantitative study focused on educators entering the classroom as teachers both pre- NCLB and post-NCLB enactment. The specific problems explored in this study was the motivational levels and job satisfaction factors of pre-No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and post-No Child Left Behind (NCLB) public school educators; how motivation and job satisfaction influenced educators’ decisions to remain active in the classroom within an instructional capacity. The participants in this study were public school teachers employed by a mid-sized school district. The research instrument used as part of this study was Mertler’s (1985) Teacher Motivation and Job Satisfaction Survey (TMJS); one of the few motivational/job satisfaction surveys specifically developed for application within the education profession. SurveyMonkey supported the survey, data collection, and statistical analysis. The application of a chi-square, one-way ANOVA, Pearson Correlation, Stepwise Multiple Regression, frequency distribution tables, and descriptive statistics allowed for the identification of a relationship, if one existed, between pre- NCLB and post-NCLB educators motivation factors and job satisfaction levels and teachers choosing to remain actively engaged in teaching within the classroom. The research revealed, while there was no significant differences between pre-NCLB and post-NCLB educators’ motivational levels, job satisfaction factors between the two groups were statically significant different.