(Kurita)Hello, everyone. (Students)Hello. (Kurita)This is “Interactive Teaching” WEEK 3. This week’s topic is “Learning Sciences”. In this session, we are going to learn about motivation. Before we begin the main topic, let me clarify the goal of this week: “Understand the factors related to the promotion of learning: motivation, mastery, and practice and feedback”. This is the goal. There are three objectives for this week and the first is today’s objective: “Be able to explain respectively the keys to keeping and stimulating motivation: value, expectancies, and the environment”. This is the objective. Here is the table of contents. We shall begin by answering the question, “What is motivation?” I will then explain the framework for understanding motivation. These two are the contents for today. The latter half will be explained in the next session entitled “Motivation Part 2”. OK? “What is motivation?” Here is the definition given by Maehr & Meyer (1997 in Ambrose et al., 2010). Motivation is “the personal investment that an individual has in reaching a desired state or outcome”. It is a personal process or a personal activity. Motivation is used literally in katakana or is translated as dōkiduke in Japanese. It is an inclination or a driving force to do something. "What were you most motivated to do?" Think about it for a few seconds. Imagine or write down what it would be. Tell me about the things you were highly and constantly motivated to do. Let me ask some of you. How about you, Ozawa-san? (Student)Yes, I was in charge of managing a school festival when I was in the first and second year of undergraduate and I had the greatest motivation then. (Kurita)I see. (Student)There is an annual school festival organized by the University of Tokyo, called the ‘Komaba Festival’, that is held every November. To prepare for the festival, I made brochures and ornaments for the campus all night. I still remember how happy I was to welcome so many people on the day of the festival. (Kurita)I see. You were in charge of managing the festival, so you did that on your own initiative and not because you were told to do it by someone else. (Student)Yes, I did it voluntarily. (Kurita)I would like to hear the responses of some more people. How about you, Horiuchi-san? (Student)Yes, mine concerns my studies. I changed my field when I proceeded to graduate school from undergraduate. I studied by myself for an entrance exam, held a study group with my friends, and managed to take special classes I was originally not allowed to. I made extra effort and succeeded in joining graduate school. I was so happy. (Kurita)Congratulations on that. That is also a great thing to accomplish. So that was not something you were told to do by someone else. You had a graduate school you wanted to join and an entrance examination you wanted to pass, and that is why you are here today. Thank you. I cannot hear from all of you, but I am sure that you all have something that you are or were highly motivated to do. Keep that in mind and listen to the following explanations. I am showing you the “learning activities” of students on the screen, but motivation has to do with all the activities you mentioned right now. It exerts influence on the direction, intensity, persistence, and quality of the learning activities of students. Motivation influences what you are going to do, how much effort you make on it, like sitting up all night to do it, how long you are going to work on it, and your level of excellence in doing it. Therefore, motivation is an important factor in learning. I would like you to understand the meaning of motivation, as the first step of having your students learn. Here is the framework. There are many research studies and theories on motivation. I shall adopt one of them for explanation; therefore, I shall not delve into the controversial issue of whether the theory is right or wrong. Now, let’s think of motivation from three perspectives: the subjective value of a goal, the expectancies, and the environment. This figure shows a bicycle. The example I will give will involve riding a bicycle. I would like to illustrate the relationship between motivation and these three components: value, expectancies, and the environment. Motivation comes first and it leads to goal-directed behavior and further leads to learning and performance. This figure shows the significance of motivation as the root. Then, how are expectancies, value, and environment related? They are the ones that form motivation or the driving force. Expectancies and value directly influence motivation, while the environment acts as the basis for all these components. Let me explain these three components respectively. I shall begin with the subjective value of a goal. Suppose an educator sets specific objectives about what he/she would like students to learn. (I shall take up this issue in the session on syllabus.) The subjective value of a goal is, for example, the value that students attach to those objectives. I always present the learning objectives at the beginning of the session by explaining what we are going to learn in that session, but the value of these objectives varies among different people. This is why the value is referred to as subjective. Even if you present the same objective, its value differs among students. This refers to the value each student attaches to the objective. Now, let me ask you a question. Suppose a father is going to teach his son how to ride a bicycle. The objective in this case is to enable his son to ride a bicycle independently. What values can the father present to his son? If you were to teach your child or a child in your neighborhood, or a friend who cannot ride a bicycle, how would you explain or present him/her the value of being able to ride a bicycle? Think about it for a while. I hope you can come up with several ideas. Then, let me hear some of your thoughts. How about you, Mizukoshi-san? (Student)The pleasure of being able to go far away by yourself. The pleasure of being able to go to distant places. (Kurita)I see. You can expand your area of activities by riding a bicycle. What else? (Student)The refreshment of feeling the wind. (Kurita)So riding a bicycle is refreshing. I see. Thank you. How about you, Kaneko-san? (Student)Well, you can become fitter by exercising the part of your body you don’t use when you are walking. (Kurita)So you ride a bicycle as an exercise. I see. You can strengthen your muscles. Thank you. Let me explain these three ideas of value one by one. Value can be divided into three categories: attainment value, intrinsic value, and instrumental value. The idea given by Mizukoshi-san, which says that you can go to distant places, would be categorized under instrumental value. This is about whether the objectives or the tasks help you accomplish other important goals, so being able to go far away means that you are able to go to distant places for shopping by riding a bicycle. Feeling refreshed because of the wind means that you enjoy riding a bicycle. This is called intrinsic value, which means you enjoy doing the task. Strengthening your muscles will also be categorized under instrumental value. Riding a bicycle helps you keep fit and it can be a form of exercise. Attainment value refers to the mastery and accomplishment of a goal or task. I would encourage the child by telling them how great they are, or that they would be a grownup if they could ride a bicycle. In this way, value is classified into attainment value, intrinsic value, and instrumental value. Now, let’s wrap up. Motivation is the key to learning. It is the driving force that causes a person to act toward achieving an objective. Subjective value of a goal is one of the factors that promote motivation. It is divided into attainment value, intrinsic value, and instrumental value. That’s all for this session and this will be continued in the next session.
