Running head: Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

Shannon M Dudzienski
College of DuPage

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

Abstract
Education is one of the most important and lengthy obstacles mostly everyone
experiences. This day and age it is crucial that you have some sort of education. To have a good
paying job its a necessity to have college level education. Now a days education is also very
different compared to education back in the early 1900s. Its much more complex and goes
beyond the basic math and English, its those components plus communication skills, common
sense, and advance in math and English. When going to school the competiveness can seem very
discouraging and some may lose the motivation to learn or even attend school. In this research
paper leering and motivation will be discussed and ways to motivate students and to demotivate
students will be discussed.

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

I Overview

Learning in the 21st Century is very different from learning in the 1900s or even
before that. Learning is much more advanced and in depth compared to the 1900s. In todays
society it is very important to take education very seriously and get all the necessary education to
get through all levels of education and get a job. According to the website p21.org they feel that
"P21's Framework for 21st Century Learning was developed with input from teachers, education
experts, and business leaders to define and illustrate the skills and knowledge students need to
succeed in work, life and citizenship, as well as the support systems necessary for 21st century
learning outcomes. It has been used by thousands
of educators and hundreds of schools in the U.S. and
abroad to put 21st century skills at the center of
learning." This website teaches any one that is involved
with education the right way to learn in the 21st
century. It also shows are more efficient way of
learning.

When talking about education it all starts with learning and how to motivate the
student to learn. According to the article motivation the author felt that the
definition of motivation was "motivation is derived from the Latin verb
movere (to move). The idea of movement is reflected in such commonsense
ideas about motivation as something that gets us going, keeps us working,
and helps us complete tasks. Yet there are many definitions of motivation

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

and much disagreement over its precise nature. These differences in the
nature and operation of motivation are apparent in the various theories we
cover in this text. For now, we will say that motivation has been
conceptualized in varied ways including inner forces, enduring traits,
behavioral responses to stimuli, and sets of beliefs and affects." This is just
one example of a definition of motivation, there are many more. Motivation is
a key component to learning; there are also some teachers that are great at
motivating and others that lack that spark that motivates students.

Now that motivation has been defined there are also two other terms that need to
be defined. Extrinsic and intrinsic are two other types of motivation that teachers may use to
motivate students. According to Weisman (2012) intrinsic is the more benficial motiavation
technique. Extrinsci motivation can includes a teacher " frequently provide verbal reinforcers,
such as words of encouragement to struggling learners or task-specific praise" alot of research
has been done say that external motivatiors "can impede learning, undermine intrinsic
motivation, and create situations where students withdraw from an activity" This type of
technique isnt used as much because it hasnt been very helpful to motivate. On the other hand
educators use intrinsic motivation on students more because they get a better response from the
students. According to Weisman (2012) Intrinsic students are students that are "motivated when
they have a natural curiostiy" there ar two influences on students motivation, one is" their
individual interest, which is a childs inherent desire to learn certain concepts, and situational
interest, which are environmental factors that generate interest'. The secound influence is
"Educators can positively influence individual interest when they teach children to get excited

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

about learning new concepts and help them to become lifelong learners" According to Shen
(2012) Intrinsic is the highest degree of self- determined motivation. He also states that "At the
autonomous or internal end of the continuum, intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, and
identified regulation lie adjacent to each other. Behaviours that are spontaneously engaged in, for
enjoyment and interest alone, without external reinforcement or perceived contingency, are
characterized as intrinsically motivated." These two definitions of intrinsic motivation involve
the educators efforts to get the student excited for school and excited about learning. In the rest
of this research paper certain techniques will be discussed that have had a positive or negative
influence on students and their motivation.

II. Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

The topic motivation comes up in the study Preschool Teaching Students' Prediction of
Decision Making Strategies and Academic Achievement on Learning Motivation, Bahaddin
(2012) states in the discussion section of this journal that "the motivation score averages of the
students of the department of pre-school teaching regarding the profession of teaching; it is
found that their cognitive and lifelong learning goals are very high, their extrinsic motivation and
intrinsic motivations are high and negative factors for learning motivations are low." This quote
shows that with extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation that learning motivation is low. In
the study done by Bahaddin (2012) was to " identify problems and motivation sources and
strategies of decision-making of the students attending preschool education teacher department,
was to determine the relationship between learning motivation and strategies of decision-making,
academic achievement of students, was to determine whether strategies of decision-making and

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

academic achievement of students predicts learning motivation" In the study they used a
questionnaire developed by Acat and Yenilmez that aimed to study strategies of decision making
and academic achievement. According to Bahaddin (2012) the results of the study he conducted
were, "seen that strategies of decision -making and academic achievement of the students
significantly predicted sub dimensions of motivation source and problems candidate teacher
occupation. There was a negative relationship between academic achievement, strategy of reasonable decision- making, and strategy of independent decision-making and negative factors for
lear-ning motivation. There was a negative relationship between strategy of impulsive decisionmaking and cognitive and lifelong learning goals motivation, intrinsic motivation. There was a
positive relationship between strategy of reasonable decision-making and cognitive and lifelong
learning goals motivation. Also, there was a positive relationship between strategy of impulsive
decision-making, strategy of inde-cisive decision making and negative factors for learning
motivation."

III. Technology Enhanced Learning

In the study The Effets of Reading from the Screen on the Reading Motivation Levels of
Elementary 5th Graders by Zeynep, he tried to figure out the effects of computer gaming and to
see if it was beneficial for students to use it. In study done by Zeynep (2012) they constructed an
experiment that consisted of 60 students, this study aims "to explore the effects of reading from
the screen on elementary 5th grade students' reading motivation levels" After the study was
completed the result of the study The Effects of Reading from the Screen on the Reading
Motivation Levels of Elementary 5th Graders by Zeynep where "that the reading motivation

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

levels of students who read the texts from the screen were significantly lower than those of
students who read the printed material, both in the subscales and the overall scale" This shows
that doing activities or any type of learning on the computer leads to low scores which also leads
to a decrease in motivation because of how dull learning on the computer can be.
According to ESeryel (2014), they conducted this study to understand the
influence on motivation and the engagement of the leaner. Eseryel states that "learning,
motivation literature particularly emphasizes the influence of self-efficacy and self-determination
on the quality and outcome of problem solving." Eseryel also wanted to find out problem
solving, cognitive processing and motivational requirements and how it affects gameplay. For the
experiment the participants had to play the MMOG and the results of the participants where
according to Eseryel (2014) that the "participants lost interest in the game because it did not
fulfill their expectations" but even though the participants lost interest in the game they kept on
playing because there was nothing else to do in the session. For the conclusion of this study
Eseryel (2014) reveals three things one of them is "there are complex interplays between the
student engagement, motivation, and problem-solving competencies" the secound thing he came
up with was "the game can enhance or limit learners choices and relatedness, which can
influence learner engagement" the final thing he reveals is "the design features of the game can
affect learners self-efficacy and perceived competence." All three of things can affect students
motivation and on certain people game-playing can be positive thing for others it can be negative
thing.

V. Learning by Doing (Dewey)

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

In the journal Outside-school physical activity participation and motivation in physical

education by Shen (2012) states that "Research has shown that participation in a variety of
organized outside-school activities has many positive academic and social outcomes." There is a
reason tons of schools have gym or recess, its because it gives kids a chance to clear their minds
and let go off stress. It helps kids later to motivate in school because they were given a break. In
the study conducted by Shen (2012) he thought "non- school contexts can shape and reshape
students' motivation and mediate their leaning". in this study the self- determination theory and a
hieracrchical mode of motivation was used, it was desginged to examine the connection bettween
partipaction in "organized outside-- school physical activity programmes and self-determination
process in physical education". The study also called for 545 9th graders to participate in this
study. After the study was done there was a positive outcome from kids that had a recess they
were more determined to learn coming from a break vs kids that didnt get a break

According to Yilmaz (2013) he said in his journal that "Museums have great potential to
enrich learning, especially in terms of revealing students dormant abilities and skills. As asserted
by Gardner (1991), whereas learning in traditional classrooms is generally characterized by a
limited range of opportunities to be seized, learning in museums provides multiple pathways for
students to demonstrate their understanding of the subject via their own intelligences." In this
study they took a class to a museum and learned the topic by experiencing the history verses
taking notes about the topic.
the results to Yilmaz's experiement where "The study results indicated that five
components constitute the structure and essence of the phenomenon of learning social studies via
objects in museums. These are excitement and motivation to learn the past, active participation in

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

learning process, reconstruction of historical knowledge and the development of historical

thinking skills, enjoying social studies learning, and heightened interest in social studies and
seeing it as valuable school subject". In the journal learning social studies via objects in
museums: investigation into Turkish elementary school students lived experiences by Yilmaz
(2013) they found better motivation from students when teachers took them to muesums to learn
the topic. Researchers learned five things when taking the students to a musem, " (1) excitement
and motivation to learn about the past, (2) active participation in the learning process, (3)
reconstruction of historical knowledge with the development of historical thinking skills, (4)
enjoying social studies learning, and (5) heightened interest in social studies and seeing it as a
valuable school subject. "

VI. Other Factors and Ed Psych

According to Weisman (2012) in his study he tried to find out the most effective
strageties that motivated students, one of the stargeis was " The majority of the students believed
they were most motivated in school when they set goals or if they were intrinsically driven to
achieve in the classroom." This study was more of a survey and weisman noticed that many
teachers are full of them selfs and believe that students that are motivated to learn are motivated
by the teacher. According to this article it sometimes isnt the teacher that motivates the student;
sometimes its the student themselves. According to the journal Student Motivation and the
Alignment of Teacher Beliefs Weisman stated "Approximately 44 percent of the students
believed the most important motivational construct was the goal orientation theory, while 27

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

10

percent of the student participants thought they were most likely to be motivated because of their
inherent desire to learn and do well in school.
In the Graduate Students' Perspectives on Effective Teaching by Lilian Hill (2014) she
constructed a study that was an 8 yearlong data collected experiment. she based her data on what
kids tought of teachers. she catigorized her data by these three questions " (a) teaching
competence (knowledge of content and teaching), (b) relationships with students (having the best
interests of students at heart), and (c) teacher attitudes (with respect to teaching and learning)"
According to the students from the study done by Hill (2014) they wanted teachers that had
"knowledge of the subject matter, mastery of teaching methods, class preparation, and time
management. These ideas were expected and represent characteristics most often measured in
teaching evaluations" when teachers have these qualities the students might be more motivated to
listen to the teacher.

In the study Multiple Intelligences Theory, Action Research, and

Teacher Professional Development: The Irish MI Project, Hanafin (2014) investigated the
multiple intelligences theory in school. It shows how MI theory was used in the project as a
basis for suggestions to generate classroom practices; how participating teachers evaluated
the project; and how teachers responded to the professional experience". In Hanafins (2014)
study he came to the resluts "Teachers reported successful student outcomes including more
interest and motivation, better recall and deeper understanding, higher attainment, improved selfesteem, and more fun and enjoyable classroom experiences. For teachers themselves, the project
was a challenge". In this study the paradigm was the participants must half of them depicting
mountain scenes and half of them depicting city scenes." Esterman also said the use of these

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

11

more complex, naturalistic stimuli has been argued on the one hand to reduce monotony and
mindlessness and boost motivation, and, on the other, to deplete performance faster". This study
was done to find out if rewards and punishments in fact increase motivation. During the study
the participants "switch from rewarded to unrewarded blocks, as well as the cumulative effects of
fatigue." Over the course of the experiment ester man noticed reward-based motivators across
three experiments, we demonstrated that reward enhances overall response accuracy as well as
response stability". According to Esterman (2014) "motivation and reward have been shown to
enhance performance in a number of cognitive domains including attention" This qoute shows
that in fact that rewards to have an impact on a students motivation.

VII. Anti-Motivators

According to Fan the

study was to do a longitudinal
study to examine the " high school
students motivation in predicting
whether they left school before the
end of the 12th grade" they also
want to "examined the mediating
role of students educational expectations in linking students school motivation to their later
behavior of leaving or persisting in high school by utilizing a nationally representative dataset"
In the study School motivation and high school dropout: the mediating role of education Fan

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

12

stated "Students motivation for school drives their thoughts and actions to obtain academic
success and plays an important role in their efforts to learn, perform, and behave" Fan also said
that it depends on the students "expectations regarding how they will perform in school tasks,
which in turn influence their achievement-related choices and behaviors. That is, students who
feel confident about their learning abilities and view school activities as interesting are School
motivation and high school dropout 23 likely to have higher expectations of their performance on
upcoming tasks and make more positive achievement-related choices" According to Fan research
has shown that kids will lose motivation in school when they "perform poorly academically,
demonstrate more misbehaviors, become less engaged in school activities, come from lowincome families or single-parent families, have a less- supportive relationship with parents, join
schools with poor academic quality, obtain less support from teachers, or get negative influence
from peer friends". All these reasons lead to a child loosing motivation in school and leading to
dropping out.

Discussion

From this research paper, motivation and learning where defined and discussed in depth
this paper. Certain ways to motivate people where talked about along with ways to demotivate
kids. Ways to motivate students was to have a good teacher that makes the student want to be at
school and motivate them to come to school. Another way to have a student motivated about
school is to have the students create goals for them selfs to achieve. This are just a few ways
kids can get excited about school. Its so important to be motivated for school because education
is such a major part of the world.

Affects From Lack of Motivation in Education

13

References
Eseryel, D., Law, V., Ifenthaler, D., Ge, X., & Miller, R. (2014). An investigation of the
interrelationships between motivation, engagement, and complex problem solving in
game-based learning. Educational Technology & Society, 17(1), 42-53.
Esterman, M., Reagan, A., Liu, G., Turner, C., & Joseph, J. (2014). Reward reveals dissociable
aspects of sustained attention. Journel of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 22872295.
Fan, W., & Wolters, C. A. (2014). School motivation and high school dropout: The mediating
role of educational expectation. The Britsish Pyschological Society, 84, 22-39.
Framework for 21st century learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from p21 partnership for 21 century
learning website: http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework
Hanafin, J. (2014). Multiple intelligences theory, action research, and teacher professional
development: The irish mI project. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(4), 125142.
Hill, L. H. (2014). Graduate students' perspectives on effective teaching. Adult Learning, 25(5),
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M. Bahaddin ACATa, & Esra DEREL?. (2012). Preschool teaching students prediction of
decision making strategies and academic achievement on learning motivations.
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 2670-2678.
Schunk, D. H., & Pintrich, P. R. (2006). Motivation. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/motivation/

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14

Shen, B. (2012). Outside-school physical activity participation and motivation in physical

education. The British Psychological Society, 84, 40-57.
Weisman, J. (2012). Student motivation and the alignment of teacher beliefs. Routledge, 85, 102108.
Yilmaz, K., Filiz, N., & Yilmaz, A. (2013). Learning social studies via objects in museums:
Investigation into turkish elementary school students lived experiences. British
Educational Research Journal, 39, 979-1001.
Zeynep, A., & Ergun, O. (2012). The effects of reading from the screen on the reading
motivation levels of elementary 5th graders. Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology, 11(3), 357-365.