Motivation Matters

This commentary on edweek.org starts with (for me at least) a counterintuitive sentence: "Kids love science." The author of the article, Ellen V. Futter, goes on to talk about how and why students turn away from science as they get to middle and high school. She presents suggestions for how educators can help fuel kids' enthusiasm for science and encourage them to continue studying science as they get older. One of the suggestions she made particularly hit home for me. She says:

K-12 teachers should be empowered to adopt hands-on, inquiry-based teaching methods that present science as a thrilling detective story, rather than a collection of facts and formulas.

At the risk of shameless self-promotion here, I'm going to point you now to a story I just finished for Digital Directions about using computer games to teach science. The point that Futter makes above is one that many of the educators I spoke with for this story agreed with. Science lends itself very easily to a storyline, especially a detective storyline, which in turn makes it a perfect match for computer and video games, which are often driven by those exact elements of mystery and discovery. Although there are kinks to be worked out as far as getting the games to work and lining the material up with curriculum, teachers who used computer games in the classroom did observe a noticeable increase in the level of engagement of their students, and research has verified those observations.

What do you think? Do you or other teachers in your school use computer games in class? Do you find them to be an effective way of teaching, or have you run into too many problems to make them worthwhile?

Posted by Katie Ash at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's an article in The Christian-Science Monitor about using cash-incentive programs to motivate students. It talks about the programs in Baltimore and Fulton County, Ga., which I have wrriten about in the past, but also about a new program in Baltimore and D.C. that allows students to invest and manage money. Check it out.

Posted by Katie Ash at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As part of my beat here at Education Week, I cover rural school issues. I'm relatively new to this subject, and over the past month or so, I've been gathering as much information as possible about the challenges that rural schools face and ways to overcome them. This afternoon, I attended a Webinar put on by the Rural Schools and Community Trust called Engaging Students and Revitalizing Communities through Place-based Learning, which seemed particularly suited to share with you all.

Here's an article about place-based learning--what it is and some examples--from the Rural Schools and Community Trust's Web site. The Webinar was basically about how place-based learning, or expanding the classroom to include the students' community and surrounding environment, can motivate and engage students by providing them with opportunities for hands-on learning and emphasizing the relevancy of what they are learning. This is presented as an idea firmly rooted in the rural schools community, but I think it has implications for all districts. Helping students learn by studying the history, culture, and environment of their own community seems like it would not only engage students, but also build a strong relationship between schools and the outside community (which, by the way, seems to be a running theme on Motivation Matters lately).

Do you have any examples of this happening in your school or district? And if so, have those efforts been successful?

Posted by Katie Ash at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This article in the Downers Grove Sun covers the story of an elementary school in suburban Illinois that decided to celebrate its 80th anniversary by giving back to the community. Over the course of the school year, students have been encouraged to complete 80 acts of kindness that benefit the community. Each charitable act is written down on an apple and added to the school's giving tree, which hangs in the gym.

This is a great example of a school working together with the community to encourage participation from students and parents and build a meaningful relationship between the school and its community.

Posted by Katie Ash at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This story in the Tuscaloosa News hits on a lot of what we talk about here on Motivation Matters. The article tells the story of three high school students who won an international creativity and problem-solving competition while they were in elementary school and went on to found an organization that promotes those same values. Their project, THINK Organization LLC, promotes "creative thinking, deductive reasoning, public speaking, community involvement and teamwork." So far, the teens have headed a pilot program at an elementary school and hope to branch out to after-school programs and community organizations, like the YMCA.

This is a great example of encouraging creativity in the classroom, not to mention student leadership. As we've seen in the past, creativity and innovation are skills that are both hard to teach and invaluable for success later on in the workplace. Reaching kids at such a young age to cultivate a creative mindset seems like it may have far-reaching implications for those students--it obviously did for the three students who created the organization.

Posted by Katie Ash at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

There's an interesting discussion forming around this entry in the Mortarboard blog, which tracks education trends in the UK. In the post, James Wignall argues against the recommendations of a report about improving student behavior and attendance. The report suggests that one way to combat bullying is to provide a separate space for shy students, such as "quiet study rooms, indoor games rooms and separate playground areas for calm and boisterous activities."

Wignall argues that separating students this way only exacerbates the differences between shy and outgoing children, providing even more fodder for bullying and ostracism. However, this commenter, drawing from personal experiences in the classroom as a teacher, takes issue with Wignall's point of view, and ultimately agrees with the findings of the report.

As a shy child myself, I empathize with the desire to have a separate space free of stressful social situations, but I don't really know why that space has to be quite as isolated as the report suggests. It seems to me that in a free-form situation, like recess for example, kids will group up with those they feel comfortable with and engage in activities they enjoy. Perhaps the key here is giving kids a variety of options and letting them choose what they want to do.

Posted by Katie Ash at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Beyond all talk of education policy--assessment and standards and curriculum and teacher training, et cetera--there's something else that is extremely important to the success or failure of the average student: the social climate of school. It's pretty hard to do well academically if you're constantly worried about being bullied or teased, or if you don't feel safe in your classroom environment. At least, that's what Ayer Public Schools in Massachusetts is learning, according to this article in the Boston Globe.

Fortunately, I personally never had to deal with bullies while I was in school, but I did, as I'm sure most of you did as well, witness some terrible cases of bullying throughout my years as a student. Add the Internet into that mix, and bullying gets taken to a whole new level. Here's an excerpt:

Because bullying has become an ever-present issue beyond the schoolyard - tweens and teens often sling barbs online or through crudely written text messages - more school districts across the state are proactively targeting bullying by ... setting up antidiscrimination committees, or holding all manner of informational sessions for parents and students.

The story talks about a district that has begun an extensive antibullying campaign to heighten awareness of the problem and decrease the amount of bullying that happens at school. So far, one school has reported a 31 percent drop in incidences of verbal bullying and a 27 percent drop in physical bullying. That's a pretty significant change, in my book.

Have you seen an increase in bullying or cyberbullying in your school or district? And if so, what has been done to curb that behavior? And what effect do you think bullying has on student motivation?

Posted by Katie Ash at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)