Friday, April 10, 2009
intrinsic versus extrinsic
I am very conflicted on the issue presented in "A Lot of Fat Kids Who Don't Like to Read". On the one hand I totally agree that it is detrimental to students to be constantly bombarded with extrinsic rewards for performance in school. With only extrinsic motivations, students lose the real value of the material they are learning. They will never seek knowledge for knowledge's sake. On the other hand, what if as teachers we did the opposite? What if no teacher ever praised or rewarded students for doing a good job or working hard? It is my hypothesis that if there was never any sort of acknowledgment or praise for hard work then the vast majority of students would simply give up. Many students would reason that no one cared what they did or how well it was done, thus why should they waste their time. I don't know how to reconcile this debate in my mind, but I think the key lies in a balance between the two.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
yeah i agree... it's tough because it's important to praise students for doing well, but you don't want to over-praise them to the point where they will only do something if there is a reward at the end. I guess we just have to pick and choose our battles, and i also think it depends on the student also. Everyone responds to different types of behavior modification and rewards differently, so i don't necessarily think you can apply your strategy to the whole class. I too think we need to find a balance..
ReplyDeleteI struggled with my opinion on that class discussion also. To gain a better understanding of the intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation argument I did a little side research. The Vanderbilt Center for Teaching had some valuable insight on the appropriate ways to motivate children, and also broke down a classroom into different learning styles with solutions geared toward those individuals.
ReplyDeleteA good strategy suggested in class and reiterated by Vanderbilt's website was the concept of free choice in the classroom, giving students a level of control over their education. Doing this adds interest to assignments and general classroom understanding.
The other idea I liked from their website was that praise AND constructive criticism should be given freely. Giving negative feedback by assessing the work and not the student encourages a child to improve their work and advance.
The website is the following:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/interactions/motivating.htm