Justification
_
21st century teachers should focus
on helping students to become confident, motivated learners both because this
is a desirable outcome in itself and because it plays a central role in
affecting “academic achievement, school grades, student learning, and other
academic outcomes” (Marsh & Martin, 2011, p. 62). Research shows that the
most significant determinants of student outcomes lie with the student and with
the student-teacher connection (Martin, 2011; Hattie, 2003).
In this discussion, I focus on the way in which teachers can help to improve student outcomes by focusing on helping them to become motivated, confident students. The main pillar involved in this discussion is psychology.
Motivation and Confidence
In order for children to do well at school, they need to have both a belief that it is possible for them to succeed and adesire to succeed (Stiggins, 1999). Both are important because a student who is confident of his ability to succeed at a task may not be motivated to do it, either because he perceives the task as irrelevant, because it is too easy or because he is unhappy in the classroom. A student may be highly motivated to succeed at a task but still believe he is unlikely to do so, no matter how much effort he makes. This may lead him to act in ways that undermine his success (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).
Self-Concept
A confident learner has a positive self-concept. Self-concept is defined as “a person’s self-perceptions formed through experience with and interpretations of one’s environment” (Marsh & Martin, 2010, p. 60) and is related to specific fields of endeavour (Marsh & Martin, 2010).
Self-concept is important because it is closely associated with people’s behaviours and with cognitive and emotional outcomes. A positive self-concept is a strong predictor of academic achievement and happiness (Marsh & Martin, 2010).
Children begin school with a sense of self that has been developing since they were born. When parents and caregivers respond in a warm and caring manner to an infant’s cries, the baby learns to trust that he will be cared for and that he is worthy of being loved (Bretherton, 1991 in McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). As the child grows, his parents and other adults enhance his sense of self by the way they interact with him. If these interactions are generally positive, the child is likely to have a positive sense of self.
During their school years, children develop an Academic Self-concept (ASC) which affects their attitudes to learning. Children with positive academic self-concepts show interest in new learning activities, persist with difficult tasks, set high goals for themselves and look for ways of solving any problems which arise (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
Academic self-concepts “both mediate and moderate the effects of aptitudes on learning and academic performance” (Marsh & Martin, 2011, p. 60) and are mutually reinforcing, each leading to gains in the other. This is called the Reciprocal Effects Model (REM) (Marsh & Martin, 2011). The REM shows that teachers can play a significant role in helping children to develop positive views of themselves as capable learners by helping them to experience success.
It is important that teachers understand the practical implications of the reciprocal effects model. If they focus on developing ASCs without also improving achievement, the gains in self-concept are likely to be short-lived. If they concentrate on improving academic achievement without also fostering their students' ASCs, gains in achievement are also unlikely to last long (Marsh & Martin, 2011).
Motivation
Motivation is defined by Martin & Dowson (2009) as "a set of interrelated beliefs and emotions that influence and direct behaviour" (p. 328).Motivation and engagement are not the same thing. Motivation concerns the psychological processes behind student behaviour while engagement describes the connection between the student and the learning activity (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, n.d.).
Students with positive self-concepts are often highly motivated to learn however this is not always the case. Students can be highly motivated but disengaged if they feel that the work they are given in class is not interesting, challenging or relevant to them, if their teacher is not supportive, respectful and caring or if the work is too hard (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
The Importance of the Task
Students will engage with tasks they find interesting, challenging and important to them. Recent studies in neuroscience support the theory that effective learning tasks should offer something new and novel to the brain, that they should be meaningful to the student and that they should be within the student's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) so that the student has a reasonable chance of experiencing success (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
Because the brain's main job is to help its owner survive, any novel stimulus from the environment is likely to catch its attention. New stimuli cause neurons in the hippocampus to release dopamine, resulting in feelings of pleasure. Improvements in focus, memory and motivation have also been noted (Storm & Tecott, 2005 in Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). If the student does not see the task as meaningful, the brain is unlikely to orient itself to the task, let alone to activate its novelty and memory areas (Friedman, Goldman, Stern & Brown, 2009 in Sousa and Tomlinson, 2011).
This means that how teachers structure learning for each student matters so it follows that the teacher-student connection is central to the question of how we can motivate students (Martin, 2011).
Conclusion: the Teacher-Student Connection
Teaching is about individuals and inter-personal relationships play a substantial role in students’ success at school, affecting both motivation and engagement (Martin & Dowson, 2009). In particular, the teacher-student connection plays a central role in student motivation (Martin, 2011). Hattie (2003) found that "what teachers know, do, and care about" (p. 2) accounts for about 30% of the variance in students' achievement.
Teachers can make a difference to their students' learning outcomes by consciously fostering positive academic self-concepts and by helping to motivate students. In order to do this, they need an understanding of how children develop cognitively and emotionally (in particular their need for relatedness in the classroom) and the willingness to get to know each student as an individual (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). They need to develop warm, respectful and caring relationships with students; value and respect students' different cultural and social backgrounds; provide learning tasks that students see as interesting, achievable and relevant to them and have high expectations for all students.
Teachers also influence the development of students' relationships with their peers. This is important because children who believe that peers view them favourably generally have higher levels of academic achievement and self-esteem, fewer behavioural problems and are happier at school (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).
Teachers have a positive effect on peer relationships by incorporating an understanding of the different stages of children's emotional, cognitive, physical and social development in their interactions with students; modelling positive, respectful ways of speaking and relating to other people; thoughtfully grouping students for learning tasks; being sensitive to behaviours which may hinder a student's ability to interact socially with peers and providing support to help the student overcome the problem (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
In this discussion, I focus on the way in which teachers can help to improve student outcomes by focusing on helping them to become motivated, confident students. The main pillar involved in this discussion is psychology.
Motivation and Confidence
In order for children to do well at school, they need to have both a belief that it is possible for them to succeed and adesire to succeed (Stiggins, 1999). Both are important because a student who is confident of his ability to succeed at a task may not be motivated to do it, either because he perceives the task as irrelevant, because it is too easy or because he is unhappy in the classroom. A student may be highly motivated to succeed at a task but still believe he is unlikely to do so, no matter how much effort he makes. This may lead him to act in ways that undermine his success (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).
Self-Concept
A confident learner has a positive self-concept. Self-concept is defined as “a person’s self-perceptions formed through experience with and interpretations of one’s environment” (Marsh & Martin, 2010, p. 60) and is related to specific fields of endeavour (Marsh & Martin, 2010).
Self-concept is important because it is closely associated with people’s behaviours and with cognitive and emotional outcomes. A positive self-concept is a strong predictor of academic achievement and happiness (Marsh & Martin, 2010).
Children begin school with a sense of self that has been developing since they were born. When parents and caregivers respond in a warm and caring manner to an infant’s cries, the baby learns to trust that he will be cared for and that he is worthy of being loved (Bretherton, 1991 in McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). As the child grows, his parents and other adults enhance his sense of self by the way they interact with him. If these interactions are generally positive, the child is likely to have a positive sense of self.
During their school years, children develop an Academic Self-concept (ASC) which affects their attitudes to learning. Children with positive academic self-concepts show interest in new learning activities, persist with difficult tasks, set high goals for themselves and look for ways of solving any problems which arise (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
Academic self-concepts “both mediate and moderate the effects of aptitudes on learning and academic performance” (Marsh & Martin, 2011, p. 60) and are mutually reinforcing, each leading to gains in the other. This is called the Reciprocal Effects Model (REM) (Marsh & Martin, 2011). The REM shows that teachers can play a significant role in helping children to develop positive views of themselves as capable learners by helping them to experience success.
It is important that teachers understand the practical implications of the reciprocal effects model. If they focus on developing ASCs without also improving achievement, the gains in self-concept are likely to be short-lived. If they concentrate on improving academic achievement without also fostering their students' ASCs, gains in achievement are also unlikely to last long (Marsh & Martin, 2011).
Motivation
Motivation is defined by Martin & Dowson (2009) as "a set of interrelated beliefs and emotions that influence and direct behaviour" (p. 328).Motivation and engagement are not the same thing. Motivation concerns the psychological processes behind student behaviour while engagement describes the connection between the student and the learning activity (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, n.d.).
Students with positive self-concepts are often highly motivated to learn however this is not always the case. Students can be highly motivated but disengaged if they feel that the work they are given in class is not interesting, challenging or relevant to them, if their teacher is not supportive, respectful and caring or if the work is too hard (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
The Importance of the Task
Students will engage with tasks they find interesting, challenging and important to them. Recent studies in neuroscience support the theory that effective learning tasks should offer something new and novel to the brain, that they should be meaningful to the student and that they should be within the student's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) so that the student has a reasonable chance of experiencing success (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).
Because the brain's main job is to help its owner survive, any novel stimulus from the environment is likely to catch its attention. New stimuli cause neurons in the hippocampus to release dopamine, resulting in feelings of pleasure. Improvements in focus, memory and motivation have also been noted (Storm & Tecott, 2005 in Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). If the student does not see the task as meaningful, the brain is unlikely to orient itself to the task, let alone to activate its novelty and memory areas (Friedman, Goldman, Stern & Brown, 2009 in Sousa and Tomlinson, 2011).
This means that how teachers structure learning for each student matters so it follows that the teacher-student connection is central to the question of how we can motivate students (Martin, 2011).
Conclusion: the Teacher-Student Connection
Teaching is about individuals and inter-personal relationships play a substantial role in students’ success at school, affecting both motivation and engagement (Martin & Dowson, 2009). In particular, the teacher-student connection plays a central role in student motivation (Martin, 2011). Hattie (2003) found that "what teachers know, do, and care about" (p. 2) accounts for about 30% of the variance in students' achievement.
Teachers can make a difference to their students' learning outcomes by consciously fostering positive academic self-concepts and by helping to motivate students. In order to do this, they need an understanding of how children develop cognitively and emotionally (in particular their need for relatedness in the classroom) and the willingness to get to know each student as an individual (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). They need to develop warm, respectful and caring relationships with students; value and respect students' different cultural and social backgrounds; provide learning tasks that students see as interesting, achievable and relevant to them and have high expectations for all students.
Teachers also influence the development of students' relationships with their peers. This is important because children who believe that peers view them favourably generally have higher levels of academic achievement and self-esteem, fewer behavioural problems and are happier at school (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).
Teachers have a positive effect on peer relationships by incorporating an understanding of the different stages of children's emotional, cognitive, physical and social development in their interactions with students; modelling positive, respectful ways of speaking and relating to other people; thoughtfully grouping students for learning tasks; being sensitive to behaviours which may hinder a student's ability to interact socially with peers and providing support to help the student overcome the problem (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011).