Student Motivation

Student Motivation
What motivates students to learn and reach goals?
Introduction
Motivation stimulates, guides, and sustains learning. It is an important building block of self-regulated learning—the set of attitudes and mental processes that allow a person to steer their own learning. Self-regulated learning involves the action of learning itself, as well as the metacognitive processes (the knowledge, monitoring, and regulation of one’s learning) that help learners plan what and how to learn, and evaluate the outcomes of their learning. Motivation is also closely connected to self-efficacy, a person’s belief in their ability to accomplish a task, as well as context, or the environment in which learning occurs. The processes for individual learners can vary by culture, race, and/or identities.
Motivation, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning have all been linked to academic achievement. Educators, parents/caregivers, and students themselves are the main stakeholders in developing motivation.
The following sections highlight key findings from the research on learning mindsets and fostering student motivation. Research has uncovered many interventions that students, educators, and parents/caregivers can use to impact learning. Take some time to explore the different concepts below by clicking on the hyperlinked text.
Key Findings
Motivation and Learning Mindsets
Student motivation may be oriented internally or externally.
Intrinsic motivation is internally focused and fueled by the inherent satisfaction one feels from completing a task or mastering a skill. Extrinsic motivation is often driven by external rewards and consequences. These two forms of motivation are not mutually exclusive. Motivation is a spectrum and extrinsic motivation can become internalized and also vary based on the person and context. Intrinsic motivation is high during early childhood but can decline over the course of schooling as the focus often shifts from play and exploration to extrinsic rewards and punishments. Some studies show that schools and online learning programs that focus on intrinsic satisfaction, rather than external rewards and performance goals, produce higher student motivation and engagement.
Students are more likely to succeed when they view intelligence as something that can be developed through learning, especially in a positive school climate.
Some students view intelligence as a static and unchangeable entity (what is known as a fixed mindset), while others have a theory of intelligence as something that can be developed through learning (known as a growth mindset). These learning mindsets impact the academic achievement and motivation of students of all ages, including outcomes as diverse as students’ choice of course difficulty, their grades, their emotions about school and themselves, and their resilience in the face of challenges. Building growth mindsets by targeting students’ beliefs about learning, and changing how they interpret obstacles to their success, can increase academic achievement. A number of interventions help achieve growth mindsets, including simple activities such as teaching students about the brain’s ability to grow as it learns new information.
A positive school climate—where students feel a sense of safety and belonging—further improves academic achievement and engagement. The learning environment itself plays a critical role in a student’s ability to learn and thrive. To foster such environments, educators and school leaders should create school and classroom structures that encourage secure relationships.
Students do better when the focus of learning activities is on mastering material rather than achieving performance goals.
According to goal orientation theory, two types of goals drive motivation. Mastery goals focus on learning new material and skills, while performance goals focus on achieving tangible outcomes such as grades or awards. Research has found that when students set mastery goals, as opposed to performance goals, they have better learning outcomes and are more likely to develop self-regulated learning skills and positive classroom behaviors. This research suggests that performance goals may be less effective because students draw comparisons with others and focus on avoiding failure as much as aiming for success.
Student Resources