Hello fellow art educators!
In the art room, we as teachers are always looking for the best ways to engage and educate our students. Intrinsic motivation is motivating factors that one finds within ones’ self. Intrinsic motivation is described by Meulleur, C. (2019). “On the side of the positive emotions that have a beneficial effect on this process, we find mainly: the pleasure of learning in general, the pleasure of learning on a particular topic, enthusiasm for the learning materials, the hope of succeeding, pride due to achievements”. Extrinsic motivation is an outside motivating factor, such as receiving a physical reward (like a trophy) for winning a sports tournament. There is often a lot of cross-over in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. For example, many would not train for and complete a marathon simply for the reward they may receive at the end, but also because they wish to complete a goal they set for themselves. Positive emotions can help us to commit to and follow through on completing our goals. Negative emotions may help us to remember certain events or moments, but having a negative association with something may shut down the learner’s interest in completing a task. Educators need to understand their students and play to their interests and strengths in order to engage them in other content that may not be their favorite. Meulleur, C. (2019). “The teacher may also have an influence on these two learner allies, including through emphasizing the learner’s strengths rather than his shortcomings, by stimulating his interest in the course-related tasks and by introducing to its teaching a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn rather than failures.”
I feel as though I have many of the same motivators as I did as a child. I have always loved learning and getting better at things. I also still pride myself on many of the same things I did as a child (being tidy, doing well in school, and creating memorable experiences and gifts for my friends and family). Of course, as we get older our motivators change a bit. We become more focused on our family, making money to fit our lifestyles, etc. In my elementary art classroom I see intrinsic and extrinsic motivation daily. My students set many goals for themselves as artists at the beginning of the school year. Many of their goals are to learn how to draw specific animals or people. I recently had a student come up to me with their sketchbook where they wrote their goals and told me that they were so excited that they had achieved their goal of being able to draw a dog this school year. This is an intrinsic motivator. The student desired to learn this skill simply for their own enjoyment. Some extrinsic motivators I see in my classroom are what I call Compliment Cards. Students that finish their work early are allowed to quietly walk around the room and observe other students’ artwork and focus. When the student sees someone they would like to compliment for their hard work, the student fills out a Compliment Card and give it to their classmate. The students are so excited to receive a Compliment Card and they strive to get one. If they don’t get one in one class, they work extra hard to get one the following class.
The concept of consciousness in education allows students to pay attention during learning and improves memory storage and the transfer of learning. Important cognitive processes like attention, memory, and learning transfer are all a part of consciousness and knowledge retention. The development of consciousness has been shown to aid in the transferring of information and the increase of attention. This enables students to keep track of, assess, and modify their learning. This enhances the learner’s knowledge retention and application in different settings. Working memory is the temporary storage and adaptation of information. This is another component of memory. Techniques such as chunking, repetition, and elaboration can be used by educators to help learners encode and retrieve previous learning. Educators often use prompts to encourage student focus and ignore distractions. This is known as selective attention.
Attention and memory are fundamental elements of education and learning. The two elements need to work together in order to create a lasting educational experience. Attention is needed to engage the learner and provide an environment that allows information to be retained. Information is gained when the learner is understanding instruction provided by the instructor. These two need to work together to encourage the learner through the difficult elements of learning. When learning does not come naturally, this creates a struggle for the learner and may deter them from seeking to further their understanding of the topic or future challenging topics. In Perkins, D. N. (2009). Chapter 3, there are three steps described in progressing through the difficult parts of learning. These three steps are: slighting, embracing, and anticipating the hard parts.
The first step, slighting can be described in the Hearts and Mind Theory. If a learner has the desire (or “heart”) to learn, they will have the will and attention to learn. This is not all the learners need though. There is a desire for rich feedback throughout the learning process to encourage students through this.The next step, embracing, addresses when and where and how much learning needs to and will take place. Building challenges for learning through regular assessment, evaluation, feedback, and providing learners opportunities helps to ensure that working through these difficult elements of learning provides a positive outcome for learning. The final step, anticipating the hard parts. Memory and retention are two different things in education, but both have their place and do not always come quickly to learners. Students need to approach education and learning with an understanding that some of the process will be challenging. Learning new concepts and ideas is a challenge, but approaching the learning with different methods and frameworks can help make a difference in a student’s education.
For more information on the Hearts and Mind Theory, check out this video!
The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning
As a visual learner, there are a few teaching strategies that would help to support dealing with the hard parts of my own learning experience. Learning occurs when there is a goal or objective that needs to be met, and allows the learner to engage in learning through whatever method works best for the student. The three strategies that would work best to support my own personal learning are: engaging the learner in similar contexts, providing extensive practice, and providing varied practice opportunities.
Several teaching methods can be used to support students through the challenging parts of the learning environment:.
Learning through Problem-Solving: this allows students to use previous learned information and apply it to different situations in order to gain a deeper understanding of the content.
Collaborative Learning: peer interaction and group projects can help improve learning through sharing ideas and coming to conclusions as a group.
Game-Based Learning: game-based learning can help engage students and retain information by engaging in interactive learning experiences.
Feedback: providing students with specific feedback and allowing reflection can help students develop their understanding of the content as well as self-regulation.
Have you thought about consciousness development throughout your lesson planning? If so, have you noticed improved attention, memory, and learning transfer in your students?
References:
Perkins, D. N. (2009). Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education. Jossey-Bass.
Shank, P. (2004). Can they do it in the real world? Designing for transfer of learning. Learning Solutions.
Meulleur, C. (2019). The Importance of emotions in learning. Knowledge One
Seong, J. (2022). Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation: What's the Difference? - Image Verywell.
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