Motivation is one of the key aspects of education, an educational system that helps students adhere to tasks and fulfill all their obligations is the option to generate quality learning, to reach motivation in education it is necessary to do a deep analysis motivational aspects of life.
The existence of high interpersonal variability is the first big question that arises when talking about motivation within the education system, this means that each student has as many reasons to learn as a different motivational process, so there is no magic strategy that motivates all students at once and equally. However, if we look at the variability factors, we may understand this problem a little bit.
- In this article we explain three aspects that are part of this complex topic.
- The study of motivation in education.
- They are: interest.
- Self-efficacy and orientation to objectives.
- Let’s see below.
The student’s interest in the thematic content of the study is a fundamental aspect of motivation, in many cases this variable is underestimated, overestimating the level of resilience of students to learning in general and the effort it generates, this is a big mistake, because if the content is boring and boring for a student, the effort provided by the student will be largely unproductive. Moreover, when the story is interesting, the effort is categorized as positive and satisfying for the individual, not as a martyr.
On the other hand, to understand in depth the variable interest within motivation in education, it is important to consider it from different points of view, interest can be addressed at the individual level, focusing on the individual interests of each individual, or also in situations, focusing on the fact that the way the content is presented can be interesting.
When it comes to individual interest, the conclusions are largely obvious: when a subject or subject in a subject attracts a student, performance increases proportionately, as interest promotes conduct of exploration and constructive thinking around the subject of interest.
Now, if we talk about situational interest, we’re on a slightly more uncertain ground. How to make a story more interesting?John Dewey stated that subjects are not at all interesting if the teacher’s goal is to memorize facts, especially if they do not seem relevant; for a topic to be interesting, it must be presented in such a way that students can understand its complexity, because the mere understanding of something already attracts every human being. The problem arises when teaching is not adequate and the student does not understand the subject. Thus, the data learned by the student lacks meaning, meaning, and interest.
Self-efficacy is another central aspect of the study of motivation in education, understood as an expectation or personal judgment about a person’s ability to perform a task, that is, self-confidence, whether the person is competent to do so or not. It is important not to confuse the concepts of personal efficiency with self-concept, the first is a specific judgment about a particular task and the second is a generic idea about its own characteristics and abilities.
High self-efficacy helps students increase their motivation to study and learn, this is because being good is something that causes a very rewarding reaction in humans, on the contrary, a low personal effectiveness can be very negative if we talk about motivation, because the brain acts as a defense mechanism to maintain our self-esteem , so tasks for which we have great difficulties or that we believe we are not particularly capable of performing are more likely to be uns interesting.
One of the biggest mistakes of our education system is the great emphasis placed on error, as well as the habit of rewarding success against other students. As for the first aspect, it should be noted that focusing on the punishment of mistakes and mistakes, giving undue importance to punishment and punishment, can trigger a reaction without return with great harm to the feeling of personal effectiveness. On the other hand, when do we reward success over others, but not in relation to oneself?the highest grade in the class, will we all learn from it?What happens is that all other students are considered losers, which has a direct effect on self-efficacy.
Therefore, the best way to manage and strengthen the sense of personal effectiveness is to provide instructions and feedback based on improving students’ strengths and strengthening weaknesses. In addition, the assessment of success should be based on personal overload and not on that of others. .
The direction of the objectives is the direction that the student’s motivation will take, that is, the reasons or reasons why the student develops learning-oriented behavior, in that sense it should be remembered that from these reasons the motivation process changes. In the educational context, we can focus on three different objectives:
It is precisely in this context that another major problem of the education system can be outlined: students with goals of approaching performance generally get better scores than others; motivation drives students to achieve their goal. On the contrary, having competency goals is not about getting the best grades, it’s about gaining a deep understanding of the topic.
How can those interested in understanding the subject not always get the best grades?The answer lies in the fact that to get the best grades it is easier to adhere to memorization-based learning than to a deep understanding of our assessment. This principle is quickly learned by students who have an approach goal, while those seeking skills should work harder.
As we can see, motivation is a fundamental aspect that we must consider if we want to provide quality education to students. Now it is not enough to know these aspects of the subject; We must also seek an adequate application of existing strategies and knowledge about motivation, because motivating is not only inspiring and engaging students, but also conveying to them the message that they are valid and able to execute the proposals and pursue their objectives to understand in depth. the content of the various topics taught.