Getting Students Ready to Learn

We hope you had a restorative break, and resume your teaching with energy and optimism for the new year and new semester.

Carl Wieman, a Nobel laureate in Physics has spent decades studying how to improve university education.

The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative’s website is filled with great resources—for all of us, not just colleagues in the sciences—and we’ll feature some of them in our weekly messages. To harness that New Year’s sense of promise and possibility, let’s begin by considering how we can help our students enjoy the challenges we set for them. The CWSEI argues that “Student motivation is probably the single most important element of learning,” and that “motivating learning is a central element of good teaching.”

We generally think of motivation as something intrinsic to a student: some students seem motivated and some don’t. But in fact, motivation is contextual. Each of us will be less or more motivated to learn or do, to invest our time and effort, given an array of circumstances. When we’re designing learning experiences, there are a number of levers we can use to build (or squelch) our students’ motivation.

First, in order to be motivated, students need to see value in the work. What’s relevant or useful or interesting about the learning we’re asking them to do? Of course we all find our own fields of study inherently fascinating, but it’s not fair to assume that our students will share our predilections. The first day of class is a great opportunity to help students see how exciting the learning will be, and how they’ll use it in the future.

Students also need to feel that they’re capable. If a task or a subject seems beyond their ability to master, they may give up before they begin. This means that if we’re teaching in disciplines or courses that students typically fear, we’ll need to reassure them that although the work will be challenging and the material unfamiliar, learning is within their reach. We’ll need to be transparent about how we’ve designed their learning experiences to get them where they need to go—to tap into their existing knowledge and let them build their understanding and skills. We shape the environment in which our students learn, so our tone and our expectations can foster or stifle motivation. Students must have faith that the environment or context is supportive. If we show our students that we expect them to achieve, they’ll fare far better than if they sense doubt in their ability, or suspicion that they might cut corners.

A last factor in motivation is autonomy. Having some measure of choice and control helps learners to feel invested in their learning (Ambrose et al., 2010; Doyle, 2011). It’s our responsibility as the experts to determine what students need to learn, of course, but often we can let them select the topics for their projects, come up with the standards for class discussions, or even (if we’re using contract grading or specifications grading) decide what grade they intend to earn. Students may surprise you with their thoughtfulness if you invite them to participate in making decisions about their learning.