by Eric Benzel

Motivation was the topic of last Thursday’s teaching math seminar.

Here are some excerpts:

From book: “… you should now have the students realizing that there is a void in their knowledge. They are now motivated to learn how to find the values of trigonometric functions of angles greater than 90°.”

From class: “You can give the kids an extra credit math art project and they will blow you away! The kids really loved math doing this project.”

Really? Ok… I’ll admit that I love math. Geek flows in my in my veins, and solving math problems can be addicting. Hearing these “motivational” recommendations almost had me laughing out loud though! Can the authors of the text book really expect students to find trigonometric identities interesting just because I point out they don’t know this yet? Does the teacher (who happens to work at one of the most prestigious gifted schools in the country) expect an extra credit do whatever you feel like (with a math theme) project to motivate a normal class of students who 1) hate math and 2) have been told they aren’t good at math since they were young?

Yea, motivation is a tough subject and, to be fair, the authors of this unnamed text give lots of other, somewhat decent, suggestions. The gifted teacher was simply presenting a possible project. Yet I think the lack of student motivation is one of the most important issues we deal with. It connects to identity, classroom culture, performance, and future plans! I left the conversation deeply cynical but motivated to learn about motivation!

I don’t have the answers to this yet… so I’m making student motivation my own learning goal for the next year. (Last year I focused on learning about the research and best practices of cooperative learning). I want to be able to help an integrated algebra class love math (something the Regents can’t measure, by the way). I think that my classroom must be a place where students are motivated to work hard and learn lots!

Any places to start? Any recommendations? Here is a list of questions I’m starting to develop:

1. What contexts are motivating for students? I don’t think ‘real world’ is enough… what are characteristics of contexts that are highly motivating for students.
2. How to help students move beyond grade based motivation. Is standards based grading the answer? Ungraded work? What is out there?
3. How does community fit into the motivation picture: are there class structures that not only facilitate higher interaction but also higher levels of collective motivation?
4. Is motivation or interest something that can be tracked? Are there ways of determining my own effectiveness (other than a sense) in increasing the interest and motivation of my students?

Here are two interesting ideas that have come up in the last month. The first is a TED talk that I am obsessed with right now. The second is one of those bizzare prezi things that a friend emailed to me (my favorite recommendation: be less helpful!). Check them out and let me know if you’ve found anything good!

http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/the_surprising.php

http://prezi.com/aww2hjfyil0u/math-is-not-linear/