What Motivates A Child to Learn?

 

The good news is that an abundance of research today probes the ins-and-outs of motivation. And the news is good – parents and teachers can play an important role in stimulating academic motivation. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is that which emanates from inside a person. It is strongly attached to an individual’s personal wants and needs. When children are intrinsically motivated, they take ownership of their learning and are not easily deterred from their learning objectives. It is believed by nearly all scholars and experts in the field of motivation, that intrinsic motivation is much more powerful for learning than extrinsic motivation. A person propelled by an intrinsic motivation tends to persevere in his or her work until an end goal is reached. The intrinsically motivated person takes greater personal ownership of a goal and is less likely to give up.

Extrinsic motivation is inspired by the child’s environment: awards, grades, stickers, etc. Extrinsic motivation in the form of rewards is sometimes effective, but usually short lived, and when the extrinsic motivation is removed, performance often falters. Seldom does extrinsic motivation spur the deepest parts of a child to take ownership of learning. The person propelled merely by external motivation is more easily dissuaded from a goal. Research has shown that people propelled only by an external motivation can find many reasons – internally or externally – to cease their efforts, change their plans, and give up on their goals. A person propelled by an intrinsic motivation tends to persevere in his or her work until an end goal is reached. The intrinsically motivated person takes greater personal ownership of a goal and is less likely to give up.

Extrinsic motivation is inspired by the child’s environment: awards, grades, stickers, etc. Extrinsic motivation in the form of rewards is sometimes effective, but usually short lived, and when the extrinsic motivation is removed, performance often falters. Seldom does extrinsic motivation spur the deepest parts of a child to take ownership of learning. The person propelled merely by external motivation is more easily dissuaded from a goal. Research has shown that people propelled only by an external motivation can find many reasons – internally or externally – to cease their efforts, change their plans, and give up on their goals.

That’s because learning is tough work. Intellectual growth is a struggle, and there are many reasons to avoid the challenge. Extrinsic motivation – grades, diplomas, money – are often not strong enough to inspire a student to accept the mental challenge of the hard intellectual work necessary to reach a goal. Only intrinsic motivation to learn and grow will provide the student with the grit and determination to persevere toward excellence in education.

Given these brief definitions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it is not hard to make the argument that for children to have academic success throughout the course of their education, they need to be intrinsically motivated. In fact, from my own experience, if children are driven by intrinsic motivators, there will be no limit to what they will try to learn and accomplish. They will take ownership of their learning, and in having ownership, they will learn, whether they have an excellent learning environment or a poor learning environment. They will learn whether they have good teachers or poor teachers. They will learn whether they are in the best schools or inadequate schools.

Children who are intrinsically motivated to learn will not find excuses for their academic performance or blame others for their inadequacies. Learning will matter to them, and they will make sure they learn. Intrinsic motivation is powerful. It unleashes human potential for learning, knowing, and doing.