I passed... I got 90%, so what is the reward? What gift will I get?... You know I don't like school... I go because you want to... These are phrases we hear from children that indicate their weak motivation to learn, and leave educators confused. Have our children lost their love of knowledge and passion for learning? Is it because we provide them with what they want without them asking? Or is it because of the abundance of distractions and entertainment available outside of school, or because they don't know the benefits of education? All of these are possibilities, but what is certain is that we must know the right mechanism to support and raise our children's motivation to learn, and in order to find effective solutions, we must look for the possible causes and ways to develop and enhance them.
It has been God's law on earth that knowledge is given, not received . Without desire, it is difficult to put in the effort and time for learning. The learner needs an internal motivation that enables him to bear the hardship of learning in order to move forward towards continuity and success. However, when he turns into a refillable vessel into which information is poured, and he receives instructions as if he were an unconscious receiver, the learner becomes lazy and dependent, and a clear defect occurs in the natural law. Here, we must pause for contemplative and explanatory reflection.
Motivation is a fundamental topic closely related to the learning process, the learner's personality and behavior. There is no learning without motivation. Psychologists have defined it as the internal state of the learner that drives his behavior and performance, keeps him working and directs him towards achieving a specific goal. It is also the internal state that urges the individual to pay attention and be constantly active until learning is achieved. That is, any activity undertaken by an individual does not begin or continue without motivation. If we do not feel hungry, we will not get up to eat. If a child feels that his effort leads him to a tangible result that indicates his accomplishment, he will feel successful and happy, then he will feel the desire to make more effort to search, discover and learn. Then he will repeat the enjoyable experience and complete his path towards excellence and success.
I will talk about two types of motivation: internal, spontaneous, intrinsic motivation, which is an innate, spontaneous quality that helps a child explore and discover the world around him. It is innate and does not require learning. It continues with him, moving from one form to another, and remains protected from influencing factors that may cause it to weaken or disappear. The second type is stimulated or external motivation , which drives a child to learn and grow through external factors. To clarify the concept, I will compare the first type to internal energy that is generated by movement and burning energy without the need for external intervention. The second type is like cars that operate on springs, needing someone to turn them so that they can move and then return to stop, and need someone to turn the key again to tighten the spring. This is what we see with students when we offer them a reward, so they do not exert effort unless they receive something in return.
The most important reasons that affect or weaken spontaneous self-motivation are low self-esteem , feelings of inability and failure, loss of purpose and lack of clarity of future inclinations, a non-renewable and inappropriate educational climate , exaggerated control and rules that create psychological pressure and an overwhelming desire to resist and disobey authority, high expectations that make the child feel incompetent when what is required is difficult and the challenge is not easy to achieve or we constantly demand excellence and do not accept less than that, or low expectations that make the child feel incapable or not need to make an effort as there is always someone to do the required work for him, turning him into a dependent and lazy person, neglect and lack of participation and follow-up where the child feels that he is not important and no one cares about him , family problems and frequent criticism, rejection and deprivation, all of this can make The child becomes desperate and angry and may use poor performance as a means of gaining attention and revenge. Rewarding is a method of getting the child to do his duty, which makes him work not to please himself but to please the one who will reward him.
Now that we know the reasons that weaken motivation to learn, we need to focus on how to strengthen and support it. Here are some mechanisms to achieve this:
First: Start with the learner's interest and provide opportunities to choose the appropriate method, content, or educational materials, and work to get learners out of their seats to participate and feel the change with equal physical and mental activity in a fun atmosphere.
Second: Stimulate his curiosity by raising mystery and questions to encourage him to search for answers, and set some challenges.
Third: Use new and unfamiliar teaching methods and ensure constant change to attract attention by using fun educational games on some electronic devices.
Fourth: Linking educational content to the learner's individual goals so that he or she can realize personal benefit. What is striking is that personal goals are more ambitious than those set by others.
Fifth: Make expectations realistic, positive, clear in their objectives and meaning, appropriate to the age and maturity level of the learner, and capable of achieving them.
Sixth: Providing learners with a reasonable degree of self-control , while setting fair standards and consequences that link results to expectations and ensure a sense of equality. The learner must also feel comfortable making some mistakes that will not affect his overall achievement.
Seventh: Consciously use symbolic and material rewards and prizes in a positive way. There should be no reward for a duty, but rather effort should be rewarded accordingly and praised, no matter how small, in a way that tracks achievement at all levels. Measurement and evaluation methods should be developed in a positive manner, with the goal of improving future performance.
It is true that we can seat a child in a classroom, but we can never force him to learn unless he wants to. When the doors of the mind are closed to the teacher due to low motivation, all he has to do is observe the learner's behavior and try to find the root of the problem to solve it.