Friday, July 20, 2007

Technology as Motivation

"Students who are intrinsically motivated will work harder and learn more because of their personal interest in the material." ( Heinich, 2005, p. 51)

Technology can be used to "create" intrinsic motivation in a subject by creating a more interactive and "fun" learning activity. For example, as a math teacher I struggle with trying to motivate students who say they are just not good at math, don't see the point of learning Algebra, or just do not like math period. These students think it's boring to just work on paper-and-pencil calculation problems because they are not intrinsically motivated. If they can use the computer and work in groups, it provides intrinsic motivation to participate in the activity because it is hands-on and captures their attention. Students who can not focus for 10 minutes during direct instruction can stay focused for much longer stretches of time when working on the computer.

I have witnessed this when my Geometry students used Geometer's Sketchpad to enhance their comprehension of basic geometric properties. The students were much more engaged and interactive and I could quickly assess from their questions that they had not retained the information from the prior day's lecture and textbook homework assignment. I also created an architecture project the required them to do research online and then incorporate that information with geometric properties and theorems we had discussed in class. They also needed to work cooperatively with a partner to organize this information and present it to the classroom in a clear, logical manner. They were given creative freedom and encouraged to use technology as media for their presentation. The students were able to use the overhead projector, PowerPoint, Geometer's Sketchpad, visuals, audio, DVD clips, etc. to "teach" the class about their chosen architect and specifics about one building or structure. The students were motivated and they even were able to copy pictures from the internet and paste them into Geometer's Sketchpad. This allowed them to draw lines and clearly label Geometric properties right on top of pictures of the actual building. This created an incredible visual for the class and we were able to easily see the connections between the properties we were learning in class and real world situations that utilize these properties! This computer-based project definitely provided intrinsic motivation for my students.

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