Interventions are effective approaches to influence students and change the learners’ behaviors (Mills, 2014). This paper aims to discuss the intervention method selected for influencing the students’ motivation to learn with the focus on the particular motivational strategy. Therefore, it is important to focus on the intervention overview, supporting literature, benefits, the intervention plan, and ethics.
Intervention: Overview
The intervention to motivate the male 17-year-old student to learn is a multidimensional strategy oriented to affecting such aspects of the person’s motivation as self-efficacy, goal orientation, and needs achievement (Martin, 2008). While implementing the intervention, the educator aims to use praise in order to affect the behavior and increase self-efficacy leading to raising the motivation to learn. In addition, the researcher intentionally avoids the punishment in the strategy to create the supportive atmosphere and motivate the student through positive examples or role models referring to personalities respected by the participant (Acee & Weinstein, 2010).
Role models in this case are sportsmen and the U.S. Air Force officers. This approach is effective to develop the motivation to learn in association with the needs achievement.
Finally, the focus is on motivation based on the goal orientation as a result of discussing motivational videos, reading motivational materials, and visiting professional seminars. This approach allows motivating the participant to choose personal and professional goals and focus on learning activities as the ways to achieve these goals (Mamlok-Naaman, 2011). Therefore, the motivational strategy is based on affecting those areas of the participant’s personality and interest that can make him become more motivated to learn.
Intervention: Literature Review
Motivational strategies are actively used in education to help students become more interested in their learning activities. According to Martin’s (2008) multidimensional intervention, the focus should be on developing students’ self-understanding, persistence, skills in task management and self-control. These aspects became fundamental for the proposed intervention. The selection of praise and role models as motivational factors is based on the research by Acee and Weinstein (2010), who discussed the integration of the value-reappraisal intervention principles. Following the researchers, praise and the focus on values, reputable sources, or persons are important to motivate a student to demonstrate higher academic results. Moreover, this approach leads to the improved self-regulation (Acee & Weinstein, 2010).
The study by Jones (2008) allows discussing the out-of-class motivation to learn and assistance as important factors to influence students’ visions of learning and their successes. Mamlok-Naaman (2011) states that the main motivational factor in the study is the interest in the subject. Therefore, it is significant to motivate students to learn through engaging them in attractive activities and discussing interesting topics. These researches provided the theoretical and practical background for developing the motivational intervention.
Intervention: Benefits
The 17-year-old participant will benefit from the proposed intervention because the multidimensional approach allows making the learning activities more attractive and meaningful for the student as he develops the goal for the future, works on the plan to achieve it, analyzes accomplishments of other persons, and becomes more aware of the success achieved through learning (Martin, 2008). The student will benefit because supportive environments will be created out of the class to promote his learning as it is noted by Jones (2008), and the student will be motivated through the praise (Acee & Weinstein, 2010). As a result, the participant will be motivated positively, and chances to use principles of this motivational intervention as basic ones to reach the educational, personal, and career goals are high.
Intervention Plan
During the first week, it is important to inform the participant that we will work to increase his motivation, resolve ethical issues, and start first discussions of role models and successes in sports and learning. It is necessary to refer to examples of sportsmen and the U.S. Air Force officers. The discussion of their professionalism associated with education, academic achievements, and experience is important to affect self-efficacy and motivate the student to learn.
The second and third weeks should be spent on discussing the participant’s goals for the future, the role of motivation to achieve success, and the connection between motivation and actual career achievements. The reference to role models is also important. These discussions are necessary for motivating through the goal orientation. The researcher also monitors the time spent by the participant for doing the homework and preparing for classes, and he is praised for completing the tasks efficiently.
The fourth week should be spent on watching videos, visiting seminars, and reading materials on the topic of motivation and achievements. These activities are supported by the analysis of qualities that allow successful people to achieve their goals (Jones, 2008).
The fifth week is important to discuss the participant’s successes, personal and academic victories and negative experiences and failures. The reflection and analysis of possible fears are based on discussing the motivating case studies with the focus on experiences of other people who overcame challenges.
The sixth week is the final one, and it is spent on formulating the participant’s personal strategy to achieve the success in learning.
Ethics: Philosophy
The key features of the personal philosophy of teaching are the student-oriented practice and the focus on students’ needs. This intervention is directly associated with this principle as it allows concentrating on the participant’s interests in order to make him motivated (Siegle, Rubenstein, & Mitchell, 2014). The intervention is used to identify needs and apply tools that are working in this individual case.
Ethics: Social Principles
The ruling social principles are the importance of the support and respect to individuals (McNiff, 2013). These principles guide the intervention as the out-of-class support is important to motivate the student to learn, and the respect for his individual features is necessary to select the most appropriate intervention activities.
Ethics: Harm
It is important to avoid doing harm and violating the participant’s rights. As a result, the intervention should be implemented according to the recommendations from the research literature (Martin, 2008). The research-based intervention is appropriate as its strengths and weaknesses were tested previously. The ethical considerations identified by the researchers, such as bias, respect, and confidentiality, are taken into account.
Ethics: Protection
The participant will be protected in terms of signing the informed consent. His confidentiality, as well as the confidentiality of the private data, will be protected (Mills, 2014). It is important to guarantee that the study results will not affect the participant negatively.
Ethics: Bias
The risk of bias is high in this study as the participant is the family member. To avoid the bias, the researcher will focus on analyzing the concrete results without focusing on personal emotions (Mills, 2014). The objective approach will be followed to reduce the potential bias.
Data Collection Procedures
These procedures are important to collect the data appropriate for the study to analyze the intervention results.
References
Acee, T. W., & Weinstein, C. E. (2010). Effects of a value-reappraisal intervention on statistics students’ motivation and performance. The Journal of Experimental Education, 78(4), 487-512. Web.
Jones, A. C. (2008). The effects of out-of-class support on student satisfaction and motivation to learn. Communication Education, 57(3), 373-388. Web.
Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2011). How can we motivate high school students to study science? Science Education International, 22(1), 5-17. Web.
Martin, A. J. (2008). Enhancing student motivation and engagement: The effects of a multidimensional intervention. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(2), 239-269. Web.
McNiff, J. (2013). Action research: Principles and practice. New York, NY: Routledge. Web.
Mills, G. E. (2014). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Web.
Siegle, D., Rubenstein, L. D., & Mitchell, M. S. (2014). Honors students’ perceptions of their high school experiences: The influence of teachers on student motivation. Gifted Child Quarterly, 58(1), 35-50. Web.