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Student Motivation

motivation

motivation, in psychology, the intention of achieving a goal, leading to goal-directed behavior. Some human activity seems to be best explained by postulating an inner directing drive. While a drive is often considered to be an innate biological mechanism that determines the organism's activity (see instinct), a motive is defined as an innate mechanism modified by learning. In this view human drives serve to satisfy biological needs, such as hunger, while motives serve to satisfy needs that are not directly tied to the body requirements, such as companionship. Learned motives are sometimes linked with drives; e.g., the motivation to achieve social status is often viewed as a derivitive of the sex drive. Motives are sometimes classed as deficiency motives, such as the need to remove the physiological deficiency of hunger or thirst, or abundancy motives, i.e., motives to attain greater satisfaction and stimulation. American psychologist Abraham Maslow has classified motives into five developmental levels, with the satisfaction of physiological needs most important and esteem and self-actualization needs least important. According to Maslow, the most basic needs must be satisfied before successively higher needs can emerge. Cognitive psychologists such as Albert Bandura have suggested that individual mental processes, such as beliefs, play an important role in motivation, through the expectation of certain reinforcements for certain behaviors. Studies have shown that humans and other animals are likely to seek sensory stimulation, even where there may be no foreseeable goal. In recent years, the use of various tools for brain scanning has worked toward the discovery of a neurological basis for motivation.

Selected full-text books and articles on this topic at Questia

Motivating Students to Learn
Jere Brophy. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004 (2nd edition)

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Student Motivation, Cognition, and Learning: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie
Paul R. Pintrich; Donald R. Brown; Claire Ellen Weinstein. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994

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Helping Kids Achieve Their Best: Understanding and Using Motivation in the Classroom
Dennis M. McInerney. Allen & Unwin, 2000

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Enhancing Student Motivation: Make Learning Interesting and Relevant
Hootstein, Edward W. Education, Vol. 114, No. 3, Spring 1994

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A Handbook for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education
Heather Fry; Steve Ketteridge; Stephanie Marshall. Kogan Page, 2003 (2nd edition)

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 5 "Encouraging Student Motivation"

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Motivation as an Enabler for Academic Success
Linnenbrink, Elizabeth A.; Pintrich, Paul R. School Psychology Review, Vol. 31, No. 3, Summer 2002

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Motivation: Theory and Research
Harold F. O'Neil Jr.; Michael Drillings. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 3 "Classroom Motivation from an Attributional Perspective"

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Cooperative Learning: Theory and Research
Shlomo Sharan. Praeger, 1990

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 8 "Cooperative Learning, Motivation to Learn, and Academic Achievement"

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Educational Values and Cognitive Instruction: Implications for Reform
Lorna Idol; Beau Fly Jones. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 8 "Motivation and Effective Teaching"

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Student Perceptions in the Classroom
Dale H. Schunk; Judith L. Meece. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 7 "Students' Motivational Beliefs and Their Cognitive Engagement in Classroom Academic Classes"

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Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success: A Self-Management Approach
Myron H. Dembo. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000

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Developing Engaged Readers in School and Home Communities
Linda Baker; Peter Afflerbach; David Reinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996

Librarian’s tip: Chap. 5 "Children's Motivations for Literacy Learning"

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Homework: Motivation and Learning Preference
Eunsook Hong; Roberta M. Milgram. Bergin & Garvey, 2000

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Student Motivation

motivation

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Selected full-text books and articles on this topic at Questia

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