{"id":5002,"date":"2019-09-24T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2019-09-17T16:44:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T21:44:51","slug":"what-demotivates-struggling-math-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/what-demotivates-struggling-math-students\/","title":{"rendered":"What (De)Motivates Struggling Math Students?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We want our students to learn<\/em>. And: we want our students to want to learn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, the more we know about motivation<\/strong>, the better our schools will be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s one possibility: perhaps\u00a0teachers’ beliefs about learning<\/em> can motivate students. Or, sadly, demotivate them.<\/p>\n

If that’s true, then we can un-de-motivate them — that is, we can MOTIVATE them — by realigning those beliefs.<\/p>\n

Researchers in Germany wanted to explore this possibility.<\/p>\n

Background Theory #1<\/h2>\n

Of course, psychologists have several theories about motivation.<\/p>\n

In their work on Self-Determination Theory<\/strong>, for example, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan have argued that we’re motivated by a desire for three things:<\/p>\n

Autonomy<\/em>: that is, age-appropriate independence<\/p>\n

Relatedness<\/em>: that is, connection to other people<\/p>\n

Competence<\/em>: that is, the experience of effectiveness and even mastery<\/p>\n

The German researchers focused particularly on the last of these: competence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In schools, students probably feel competent when they get good grades<\/em>. So, students who get bad grades<\/em> need something else to feel some sense of effectiveness and mastery.<\/p>\n

They might need a teacher who helps them see past grades<\/em> to look at other parts of their development.<\/p>\n

But, not all teachers will be able to see past grades. In particular, the researchers hypothesized that some teachers think success in math requires innate ability.\u00a0<\/em>If a student doesn’t have that innate ability, s\/he just won’t learn very much math.<\/p>\n

Teacher who focus on innate ability won’t bother to encourage students who get low grades.<\/p>\n

But, teachers who don’t focus on innate ability will want to encourage students who get low grades. That encouragement might provide the feeling of competence that–according to Self-Determination Theory–provides motivation.<\/p>\n

The Research, The Findings<\/h2>\n

To explore this causal chain, researchers investigated<\/a> over 800 4th graders, taught by 56 different teachers across many different school.<\/p>\n

If their hypothesis is correct, then students with low grades<\/em> should feel less motivated<\/em> IF their teachers think math requires innate ability. But, they should feel more motivated<\/em> IF their teachers think it doesn’t.<\/p>\n

And, students with high grades<\/em> should feel motivated NO MATTER their teachers’ beliefs. (After all, their high grades provide a feeling of competence–which motivates by itself.)<\/p>\n

Sure enough, that’s what the researchers found.<\/p>\n

Because of the research methods, the results show up in particularly opaque stats-y language, so I don’t have graphs to post or comprehensible numbers to cite.<\/p>\n

But the simple version is: students who struggle in math felt less motivation IF their teachers believed in the importance of innate ability than if their teachers didn’t.<\/p>\n

Background Theory #2<\/h2>\n

The researchers don’t use the word “mindset” here. But, of course, you can see mindset theory all over this work.<\/p>\n

At the most obvious level: the belief that success in math requires “innate ability” is itself about as fixed a mindset as we can get.<\/p>\n

Of course, on the other hand, teachers who believe that math success doesn’t require innate ability presumably think students can improve. That’s a growth mindset.<\/p>\n

I mention this point because: you have no doubt seen many stories in the last few months claiming that mindset theory is all-but dead.<\/p>\n

As you’ve seen on this blog before<\/a>: I think mindset theory is often badly used. (No: inspiring posters ain’t enough.) But, properly understood, it can be a powerful force for good<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example:<\/p>\n

If teachers accept mindset theory, they’re less likely<\/em> to think that success in math requires innate ability.<\/p>\n

And, according to this research, that means their struggling students will feel higher levels of motivation.<\/p>\n

To me, that sounds like an easy win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When teachers focus on their students’ “innate math ability,” what happens to their students’ motivation? Researchers in Germany wanted to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":5007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-5002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-motivation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5002"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5010,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions\/5010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}