This seminar accompanies the lecture slides that are also on slideshare. The aim of the seminar was to lexplore motivation and learning from the viewpoint of an educational psychologist, but also scaffold learning for the module assignment. I adapted some exercises from Connexions website http://cnx.org/content/m43358/latest/?collection=col11415/1.2 and from TeachingEdPsych website http://teachingedpsych.wikispaces.com/The+Relationship+Between+Divergent+Thinking+and+Creativity. As always, it would be great to get some feedback and share ideas around teaching and learning educational psychology. Also, if you use this material, it would be great to hear about how things went.

1. Educational Psychology Level 6 2012-2013
Motivation and Learning
Learning Outcomes
- Apply your knowledge of motivation to a real case study.
- Recognise individual differences in motivation
- Develop a teacher expectation intervention.
- Examine creativity and look for evidence of divergent thinking.
- Consider motivations to learn in relation to your assignment seminars.
Activity One: Motivations to Learn
Below are a teacher‟s recollections of how some of her students responded to a
general science project on insects and spiders. In pairs, discuss and identify the
motivations to learn for each child.
Try to use some of the concepts introduced today: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic
motivation, effectance motivation, learned helplessness, contextualised,
decontextualised, agency, mastery orientation, HLE, self-efficacy, self-esteem,
empowerment, edutainment, creativity.
1. Jose: “I remember Jose couldn‟t wait to get started, and couldn‟t bear to end the
assignment either! Every day he brought more bugs or spiders—eventually 25 different
kinds. Every day he drew pictures of them in his journal and wrote copious notes about
them. At the end he gave the best oral presentation I‟ve ever seen from a third-grader;
he called it „They Have Us Outnumbered!‟ I wish I had filmed it, he was so poised and so
enthusiastic.”
a) What are Jose‟s motivations to learn?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b) How might the teacher enhance Jose‟s motivation to learn in future projects?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Lindsey: “Then there was Lindsey—the one who was always wanted to be the best in
everything, regardless of whether it interested her. She started off the work rather
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2. slowly—just brought in a few bugs and only one spider. But she kept an eye on what
everyone else was bringing, and how much. When she saw how much Jose was doing,
though, she picked up her pace, like she was trying to match his level. Except that
instead of bringing a diversity of creatures as Jose was doing, she just brought more and
more of the same ones—almost twenty dead house flies, as I recall! Her presentation
was OK—I really could not give her a bad mark for it—but it wasn‟t as creative or
insightful as Jose‟s. I think she was more concerned about her mark than about the
material.”
a) What are Lindsey‟s motivations to learn?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b) How might the teacher enhance Lindsey‟s motivation to learn in future
projects?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Tobias: “And there was Tobias—discouraging old Tobias. He did the work, but just
barely. I noticed him looking a lot at other students‟ insect collections and at their journal
entries. He wasn‟t cheating, I believe, just figuring out what the basic level of work was
for the assignment—what he needed to do simply to avoid failing it. He brought in fewer
bugs than most others, though still a number that was acceptable. He also wrote shorter
answers in his journal and gave one of the shortest oral reports. It was all acceptable,
but not much more than that.”
a) What are Tobias‟ motivations to learn?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b) How might the teacher enhance Tobias‟ motivation to learn in future projects?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
4. Zoey: “And Zoey: she was quite a case! I never knew whether to laugh or cry
about her. She didn‟t exactly resist doing the assignment, but she certainly liked
to chat with other students. So she was easily distracted, and that cut down on
getting her work done, especially about her journal entries. What really saved
her—what kept her work at a reasonably high level of quality—were the two girls
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3. she ended up chatting with. The other two were already pretty motivated to do a
lot with the assignment —create fine looking bug collections, write good journal
entries, and make interesting oral presentations. So when Zoey attempted
chitchat with them, the conversations often ended up focusing on the assignment
anyway! She had them to thank for keeping her mind on the work. I don‟t know
what Zoey would have done without them.”
a) What are Zoey‟s motivations to learn?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b) How might the teacher enhance Zoey‟s motivation to learn in future projects?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Activity Two: High Expectation and Low Expectation Teachers
Dr Christine Rubie-Davies is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland.
Her area of expertise is teacher expectations and the impact of high and low
expectations upon students‟ motivations to learn. In one studyRubie-Davies (2006)
found that over the academic year, students‟ self-perceptions declined in classes
with low expectation teachers. Teachers with high-expectations influence students‟
self-perceptions positively (Rubie-Davies, 2005, 2007). Rubie-Davies (2010) argued
that such research findingscould lead to interventions thatfoster the beliefs and
practices of high-expectation teachers among all teachers.
Based on your knowledge of learning theories (and also general psychology),
createan intervention to develop higher expectations amongst low-expectation
teachers.
Brief overview of your intervention:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What are the theoretical underpinnings of your intervention? Why will it work?
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4. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Activity Three: Divergent Thinking and Creativity
a) In small groups, pick six words from the wordle below.
b) Using your chosen words, construct a story to tell the rest of the group. The
story can be silly, reasonable, or somewhere in between - it is up to you.
c) To illustrate your story, draw a simple picture (no artistic talent needed). Try
to incorporate your chosen words somehow.
d) Choose someone to tellyour story to the class, while also showing the picture
to the class.
Group Discussion
a) How much does this activity really use "divergent thinking"? How much does it
use other cognitive or social skills?
b) Does this exercise represent an example of "creativity"? Do the variations
among the groups' stories suggest that creativity was at work, or do the
variations suggest something else is going on?
c) Could people learn to do the activity better with practice? What does this
imply about the nature of divergent thinking and creativity?
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5. d) How could you use the above exercise if you were to deliver a training
session about creativity for new teachers?
Activity Four: Creating Motivating Seminars
One of the requirements of your assignment is to include the “planned method of
delivery with a rationale for the chosen method” for your seminars for teachers.
The following activity can be discussed now as a group „thought shower‟ activity,
used to „scaffold‟ the development of your seminar ideas, and assist in the writing of
your assignment.
In relation to your assignment, how might you motivate teachers to learn in your
seminar?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Thinking about your “intended audience / participants”, what might be the motivation for
teachers to attend your seminar?
___________________________________________________________________
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Thank you for participating in this session. Have a good weekend
#edupsych
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