Kettlewell 1

Self-Study Project
The Study of Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation in the Classroom

Erica Kettlewell EDC 490 Student teaching

Kettlewell 2 The problem of practice that will be discussed and analyzed is the use of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation with young students. In early childhood education, motivation is a key element to learning and teaching. Students who are not engaged or want to learn, it is most likely they will not succeed. During my student teaching, I observed that students worked well with proper motivation. However, I noticed that many of the students were not motivated by their own will to succeed. This encouraged me to further study intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how it affects early childhood education. My goal for personal improvement is to enhance my students intrinsic motivation and use strategies that will improve their motivation to love learning. With that, I want to be able to find a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that will not inhibit their learning or achievement within the classroom. To understand extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in the classroom, first one needs to understand what these two types of motivation are and how they developed. Extrinsic motivation can be motivators outside of anything personal about the person. For example, an extrinsic motivator for adults is money, bonuses, prizes, and so on (Ryan). Intrinsic motivation is based on internal motivators and doing things because it is what the individual wants to do in order to have self-fulfillment (Ryan). The intrinsic motivation in a learning environment depends on the engagement of learning and meets ones core psychological needs (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). Extrinsic motivation in school is providing rewards or incentives in exchange for good behavior or finished work. Although both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation can be effective in schools, there can be a negative impact for students when not using these types of motivation properly. In the classroom, students are extrinsically from factors outside of the individual and the task performed and the student performs the task in order to get the reward (Kelsey). Using

Kettlewell 3 rewards in the classroom provides short term effectiveness for class management and learning for the student. Students put forth only minimal effort and a reward can be effective in controlling a behavior but it does not support children in developing a good value system, nor does it help students become critical thinkers, or self-directed learners (Kelsey). In other words, these extrinsic motivators may have short term positive effects, but there are negative effects on long term intrinsic motivation to learn. Also, implementing a reward system of extrinsic motivators in the classroom will create a competitive atmosphere among the students. What happens is that students are pinned against each other and it is unlikely that they will assist each other in learning new material as they are each competing for the prize (Kelsey). These negative implications for using extrinsic motivation in the classroom can hinder any intrinsic motivation students have towards work ethic and school subjects. Next, there are many studies that reveal the importance of intrinsic motivation in the classroom and within subject areas. In the article, Intrinsic Motivation to Learn: The Nexus between Psychological Health and Academic Success, the authors reveal that students with higher intrinsic motivation have more success in the classroom. This study shows that students with higher intrinsic motivation are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to be productive adults in the working world (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). When it comes to academics, one study rewarded students with a prize if the student increases the amount of words they read aloud. A significant amount of the students in that study, 25 percent, lost initiative and fell into motivational deficit category (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). With that, the same study focuses on the positive outcomes of intrinsic motivation in literacy and math in school. Students who are interested and read because of the enjoyment are intrinsically motivated, however; only 73% of children do not frequently for enjoyment

Kettlewell 4 (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). Intrinsically motivated students have read more frequently, fluently, and with greater comprehension (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). These findings reveal that students with intrinsic motivation are gaining and improving on skills versus those students who are motivated by external rewards. What this study also found is that students intrinsic motivation toward math is decreasing more than any other subject. Just like literacy and reading, math requires a set of strategies and skills and intrinsically motivated students are more likely than their peers to use effective math strategies (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). Research found that teachers who intrinsically motivated students by teaching them to appreciate mathematics rather than only to get right answers. Students with intrinsic motivation to learn math are more prone to select deeper performance and learning strategies of math (Froiland, Oros, Smith, Hirchert). Math and reading are the two most emphasized subjects for students and research shows students must be intrinsically motivated in order to succeed in them. Lastly, implementing and observing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom as well as doing research gave me more awareness on the impact of motivation for students. It became prevalent that extrinsic motivation is used more often than intrinsic motivation. My belief is that extrinsic motivation is easier to use within the classroom and is therefore used almost as a crutch. However, when intrinsic motivation is used, the benefits are truly obvious. When intrinsic motivation was used in my student teaching classroom, students were engaged and constructing knowledge rather than being scared they were not going to get the reward. I believe that an appropriate balance of both types of motivation can be effective. Students need differentiation in lessons and the same applies to motivation. In order for students to maintain high functions of thinking during the day, they need various ways to motivate their actions.

Kettlewell 5 All in all, having the intrinsic motivation to succeed for a student will result in future success as an adult. Although outside motivators or rewards can be effective, the outcome is short-term for students and teachers. If a student is motivates themselves because they want to do achieve, both students and teachers will see the positive benefits. There were benefits and difficulties of studying intrinsic and extrinsic motivation within the classroom. One aspect I felt beneficial was that I had to be more observant and aware of when intrinsic and extrinsic motivation was used. This allowed me to analyze the reason for the type of motivation and if it was used properly or improperly. Also, with the research, I gained a more full understanding of motivation in the classroom. With the research, I was able to understand when certain types of motivation are used and the affect it has on elementary students and teachers. However, the most difficult aspect of this topic is that motivation is extremely difficult to measure. Much of my observations are subjective and can be interpreted differently by someone else. This is one reason finding research that contains measurable data of classroom motivation was very difficult. All in all, this project has more rewards than difficulties. Without challenges, ones knowledge will not expand or make as many connections.

Kettlewell 6 Works Cited Froiland, John, Emily Oros, Liana Smith, and Tyrell Hirchert. "Intrinsic Motivation to Learn: The Nexus between Psychological Health and Academic Success." Contemporary School Psychology. N.p., 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. <http://www.casponline.org/pdfs/pdfs/intrinsic_motivation.pdf>. This resource focuses on how motivation effects subject areas with students. The two disciplines that this research believes motivation had the most significance on were literacy and math. These authors discuss the why teachers need to use intrinsic motivation for literacy and math because students are more likely to achieve in these subjects. The most beneficial aspect of this research is that it explains why intrinsic motivation works in the classroom and provides specific statistics.

Kelsey, Julie (2010) "The Negative Impact of Rewards and Ineffective Praise on Student Motivation,"ESSAI: Vol. 8, Article 24. Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol8/iss1/24 This source emphasizes aspects of motivation that can have negative impacts of students and their learning. The authors provide information why extrinsic motivators towards children will not provide support for a positive academic performance. Also, the authors stress that rewards in the classroom will result in students feeling under pressure and even punished. Understanding how reward and incentive systems can stifle intrinsic motivation and create competition among students.

Ryan, James. "The Difference Between Extrinsic Motivation and Intrinsic Motivation." Academia.edu. N.p., 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

Kettlewell 7 <http://www.academia.edu/1323999/The_Difference_Between_Extrinsic_and_Intrinsic_ Motivation>. This resource provides the definitions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and what they mean. The author provides a history of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the beginning thoughts and use of these types of motivation. Knowing the background of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation created a more well-rounded understanding of this topic. It benefits my understanding to know what these types of motivation are and how they came to be labeled as such.