Scaffolding

(Part#1)

According to the research, cooperative learning and scaffolded instruction have had great success. How would you adopt the major components of constructivism to build a constructivist learning environment for peer tutoring or cooperative learning? How would you apply Palincsar's experiment to your own classroom? How would you enhance a "Palincsar classroom," based on the learning theories you've studied this far? Provide at least one example.

(Part 2)  Historical Perspectives of Motivation

Drive, conditioning, cognitive consistency, and humanistic theories are all historical motivation perspectives.

Compare and contrast these early views on motivation.

Refer to your readings on Attribution Theory. For the following examples, how would you attribute success to maximize future achievement; in other words, what is the proper attribution to use? (Note: Use the attribution you believe Weiner would use.)

Your eighth-grade son, who has a 130 IQ, receives a B grade on a paper.

Your high school daughter tells you she wants to be "just an average student," meaning she will keep her grade point average around 2.00 (or earning mostly C grades).

Your sixth-grade son, who has a 100 IQ, earns an A on a paper.

Define self-concept and contrast it with self-efficacy.

(Part 3)  Metamotivation

In the studies for this unit, you reviewed the Malpass et al. (1999) article and examined the relationships in the Metamotivation Model. For this discussion, explain the metamotivation model and address the following questions:

Hint: Study the correlations (also known as factor loadings).

What do you notice about Learning Goal Orientation and Performance Goal Orientation?

How is Effort related to Metamotivation? To Metacognition? Is it what you would have expected? Why or why not?

Why is there such a high, negative factor loading of Self-efficacy on Metamotivation?

Based on the model, predict the potential effects of self-efficacy and goal orientation on self-regulation and learning.

Introduction

According to Pintrich and Schunk (1996), "Motivation is the process whereby goal directed behavior is instigated and sustained" (p. 4). We could discuss the skills necessary to be a good student and a good teacher all quarter, but if the student is not motivated, we all know that learning will not take place. In this unit, we explore the construct of motivation, a topic that is inextricably tied to learning.

Reference

Pintrich, P. R. & Schunk, D. H. (1996). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.