Motivation vs Procrastination: how to increase motivation to study

Engine of progress?

Motivation is the desire to do something. This is an important element in defining and achieving goals. According to the observations of psychologists and sociologists, the results of human activity depend 20-30% on intelligence and 70-80% on motives. Therefore, teachers and parents are concerned with the question of how to form positive motives for learning and knowledge in students.

Currently, the issue of developing sustainable positive motives among schoolchildren is relevant in pedagogy and psychology. Problems associated with a child’s lack of motivation to study have various consequences. The decline in cognitive activity in adolescence depends on deviant behavior. Due to their age, teenagers underestimate the value and importance of studying.

Parents often turn to specialists for advice. On the question of how to motivate a child to study, psychologists agree that the motivational sphere of schoolchildren is corrected through the emotional-volitional sphere, receiving positive emotions when completing educational tasks, and overcoming school fears.

Fostering learning motivation can have a positive impact on students' learning and grades. A motivated student will be able to move through the learning stages more easily and complete all the necessary tasks to ensure success. This will allow them to study more focused and with greater concentration. Motivation is especially useful when there are some difficulties during study, it disciplines a person, helps to concentrate, and further improves academic success. Therefore, modern educational institutions set themselves many tasks to motivate educational activities.

In addition, learning motivation has a long-term perspective. Modern life requires constantly acquiring new skills and improving existing ones. It is no longer enough to be an expert in one field. Therefore, it is important that during school time children learn to be motivated and are ready to receive knowledge and enjoy the learning process. With such an attitude, anyone will be able to successfully cope with both their studies at a higher educational institution and their future career.

I do not want to study

Learning motivation arises from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors, such as the strength of a desire or need, the incentive or reward value of a goal, and the expectations of the individual and his peers. The reasons may vary. The school curriculum is designed for average abilities of children. While one child copes with it successfully, another has to put in more effort and effort. Therefore, situations arise when children do not want to go to school, do homework and strive for high grades.

A student's motivation to study may disappear due to disappointment in the specialty he has chosen. Often, classes at a higher educational institution do not live up to former expectations. Confrontation with complex disciplines, difficulties in building relationships in a new team - all this leads to students losing interest in studying.

The teaching staff of the educational institution is responsible for motivating the learning of schoolchildren and students. When organizing educational activities, nothing interests and worries an experienced teacher as much as the educational motivation of schoolchildren. For the educational process, not only the attitude and professionalism of the teacher is extremely important, but also the desire of the student to receive and assimilate the transmitted information, i.e. motivation to learn. An individual approach to the student from the teacher, cooperation with parents, development of discipline and improvement of the curriculum can change the situation for the better.

Let's analyze various useful practical methods for stimulating and motivating learning.

Tips for those who learn something for self-development

A certain result can be achieved if you follow some of the suggested tips:

1. Identify the areas in which you intend to develop. Try not to take on too many tasks at once. Think about why you need this and is it necessary?

2. Read more information on the chosen field (books, articles), watch films and educational videos, attend lectures on this topic, ask questions to people advanced in this field.

3. Make a detailed plan, dividing it into the most informative points, indicating your goals. Let it always be near you so that you can track your progress.

4. Reward yourself for success. You should definitely receive a reward for the work done, because it brings not only knowledge, but also encouragement.

5. Focus on the process. Do your job because you like it, it develops you and will be useful in the future.

The Power of Goals

One of the effective methods that can be used in the process of educational motivation is to correctly identify thoughtful goals and objectives. They can be both short-term (for example, an upcoming exam) and long-term (for example, achievements that are necessary for studying at university). Goals and objectives are one of the best sources of motivation as they will inspire a person. For example, students’ motivation not to miss classes often comes from the desired goal of receiving so-called “automatic” credit for attendance. According to the methodology for studying motivation, a positive side effect of goals is that they dramatically increase a person’s persistence. In addition, wisely chosen goals inspire better results.

It is important to set realistic goals and deadlines. Each goal achieved will lead to increased self-esteem and will contribute to new achievements.

Important tips for setting up a goal:

1. Goals should be written down.
2. Uncertainty, denial and necessity must be avoided.
3. Complex goals should be broken down into main goals and subgoals.
4. All means to achieve the goal should be recorded.
5. Visualizing the achievement of a goal will help reinforce desire and persistence.

Gingerbread method

The act of reward, as another method of motivation, is extremely important. In fact, learning motivation can bring satisfaction, the positive effect of which is colossal. That is why, if the question arises of how to increase motivation to study, you should not forget about the corresponding reward after achieving the goal. Receiving rewards for effort when a goal is achieved triggers positive emotions in the brain, which leads to the realization that effort will receive a positive reward. At a conscious or subconscious level, the understanding comes that the greatest effort will lead to even greater satisfaction.

Using the formula “high effort + achieving a goal = satisfaction,” the brain begins to associate hard work with satisfaction rather than with negative factors. You will associate upcoming tasks and the necessary actions to achieve the goal as another chance to receive a reward (= positive emotions). As a result, learning motivation increases or is maintained at a high level until the goal is achieved. In addition, the willingness to pay the so-called costs (e.g., effort, time) to achieve the goal will increase due to the desired and long-awaited reward.

This technique is especially effective when working with children. Parents of schoolchildren often wonder how to motivate their child to do their homework. You should not regularly force him, use punishment or other methods. They won't be effective. School motivation is important; without it, a student will not be able to successfully master educational material. Therefore, psychologists advise encouraging children. Every parent will be able to find an approach to their child and find something that will make him happy.

Developing learning motivation through this technique will only be successful if you follow simple but important rules: final goal = big reward, and simple goal (so-called subgoal) = small reward. It is important to understand that there are no rewards for failure. If the goal is not achieved, no reward will be received. It is provided only after achieving the goal, and not at any time during the process.

Important rules:

1. The reward should be determined when the goal is set.
2. Ambitious tasks require outstanding rewards, and vice versa.
3. The reward cannot be obtained for unsuccessful attempts.
4. The reward will come only after achieving the goal, not earlier and not later.

Motivation for studying. Kinds.

1. Negative (a kind of whip). There is a stimulus with a negative charge for all types of activities. Let us immediately note that this type of motivation is categorically unacceptable. If you give a belt to your child for a deuce, then this will not lead to anything good. And even if he gets an A the next day, it doesn’t mean anything. However, a feeling of fear and constraint will always live in the child’s soul. Also, do not intimidate, blackmail, or exaggerate the importance of school grades.

2. Positive (gingerbread). A positive constructive stimulus is used. And it must be used wisely.

Our task is to help your child find strength, become self-confident and move forward to success. What methods should be used?

Ambient atmosphere

The motivation for the educational activities of students and schoolchildren largely depends on their views and thoughts about school or university. For example, if a student defines university as a place where he faces daily anxieties and is subjected to psychological suffering from teachers or colleagues, he will not be able to be motivated to do well in his studies.

A positive attitude towards the educational institution, classmates, fellow students and teachers will help keep academic motivation at a high level. But negative feelings will probably ruin her. While studying, students face negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and frustration. These feelings can significantly reduce motivation. Therefore, if parents are thinking about how to motivate teenagers to study, they should be attentive to this factor and eliminate such problems. And students should be advised to give up counter-negative behavior. We must try to turn negative emotions into even greater motivation. Direct anger in another favorable direction.

Learned helplessness

The phenomenon was discovered by Martin Seligman during experiments on dogs. They were subjected to electric shocks. One group was able to stop painful procedures by pressing a lever. And she did it. The second one did not have such an opportunity. Subjects were later placed in equal conditions. However, the dogs from group 2 did not try to use the lever. At the same time, the first ones did it easily. Summary: Animals have been trained to be helpless even under favorable circumstances.

The same phenomenon develops in children by the age of 8, turning into a permanent personal characteristic. At school, helplessness looks like the inability to complete a task. At first the student is unable to accomplish this for certain reasons. Then he gets used to this state of affairs. Later – cannot succeed in favorable conditions and stops trying to change the situation.

But you can help your child overcome the initial negativity by achieving success. Here, the student’s motivation must come first. As a result, he will cope in the future, even if the situation seems hopeless.

Is interest above all else?

Another very effective element, the presence of which will help increase motivation to learn in teenagers, is interest in the subject. If you develop a genuine interest in the subject of study, the desire to learn more will increase.

To motivate schoolchildren and students, they conduct excursions, open lessons and meetings, introduce innovative technologies into the educational process - everything that will help to interest and captivate them. Therefore, in primary school, most activities are conducted in the form of games to attract children. There is a huge difference between an interesting task and one that must be completed due to circumstances.

Parents should also support all the child’s educational hobbies from an early age: attend public lectures, exhibitions on topics that interest the child, taking into account the age. Thus, the process of motivating learning activities can be started as early as preschool age.

You can often hear from students that they will not need what they study at school in later life. If a child does not believe that the subject being studied has practical significance and benefit, he will not want to master it. It follows that you need to demonstrate why the school subject is important. We need to make connections with real life. Showing that class material is used by people in everyday life can help develop interest in it.

Important steps to develop interest:

1. It is necessary to continue studying the subject beyond the classroom.
2. Unusual aspects of the subject should be explored.
3. You need to get acquainted with interesting books, magazines or articles on the topic.

Game and rivalry

vk.com/uchi_ru

Gamification is one of the most effective techniques in working with children. Many online educational products are built on gaming principles, and not only for children: for example, this is how the well-known English learning application Duolingo works or the educational platform Uchi.ru, on which all tasks are presented in an interactive format.

The element of play is at the core of any competition: participation in competitions and olympiads not only motivates a child to move forward, but also develops flexible skills, the ability to compete and cooperate, and also teaches one to accept failure as part of life. Here the role of the parent is very important: so that the child is not afraid to compete, he needs to show that he has support and that he can receive words of approval, regardless of the result.

Right now you can join the All-Russian Olympiad in Informatics “Excellence”, the international multidisciplinary Olympiad from “Infourok”, the interactive Olympiad in English “Red Cat”, the trial round of the international online Olympiad in mathematics Bricsmath.com or the Olympiad in programming from “Uchi.ru” ", which will begin on December 1.

You just need to start

Many schoolchildren and students are interested in the question of how to motivate themselves to study. The answer is this: we need to start learning right now, no matter what.

This method works when it comes to self-motivation. It is important to get out of your comfort zone, regardless of whether you are tired or whether the learning material is interesting. This is the first step towards success. Why is it important?

Compulsion will free your mind from any negative thoughts that encourage laziness. Once you start, your brain will become accustomed to its tasks. Now it will become a natural environment and comfort zone. Motivating learning is a labor-intensive and lengthy process for which you need to be prepared.

These are turning points. They decide what will happen next: rise or fall. Either the difficulty will be overcome, and the goal will become more real and closer, or nothing will change for the better and the state of dissatisfaction will return again. In addition, after completing the necessary task, you can always return to relaxation and favorite activities.

What are the results?

Motivation is an important part of any process. To be motivated means to believe in something so strongly that you are willing to work hard and go through difficult journeys to achieve your goals and end goal.

Although some pupils and students are innately more motivated than others, there are many methods that can be used to increase motivation levels. Motivation to learn can be acquired independently or instilled by someone else. Research shows that you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control. But we must not forget about the unconditional role of adults - parents and teachers. However, parents often do nothing to arouse their child's interest in learning. The process of motivation is the daily work of adults, primarily parents.

In childhood, it is not so difficult to create motivation to learn new things and study. It is already more difficult to promote increased motivation to study in adolescence. In such a period, when all ideals are crumbling and new authorities appear, it is difficult to find a common language with teenagers, not to mention motivating them to study. In this whole process, the main thing is the right approach. If parents feel that they cannot cope with this task on their own, it is better to turn to specialists. On the question of how to motivate a child to study, the advice of psychologists is identical. The most important thing is to prevent the use of methods such as blackmail, prohibitions and punishments. Losing trust will only make the problem worse. In such situations, various motivational methods are effective, with the help of which you can increase interest and desire to study.

Conclusion

Any student can cope with intense study if he understands why he is doing it all. With a well-drafted plan, a regulated routine and rewarding yourself for the work done, your strength and desire to study increases several times.

In addition to working on yourself, films and books also help to increase motivation, but the main condition for successfully achieving academic goals is still voluntary desire .