It might work better if we tell them "And this WILL be on the exam." Most of them will not be any thirstier, but most of them will probably pay attention, since for most (??), knowing what will be on the exam appears to be a primary motivator.
Seriously, since you can only "thirst" for what you value, it seems to me that the student must first WANT to gain knowledge, and that does not appear to be the case for the vast majority of college students today (if it ever was). The #1 motivation for attending college is to get a piece of paper that leads to a job or career, not "love of learning". That was beaten out of most of them long before their shadow crossed the threshold of our classroom. "Annette Taylor, Ph. D." wrote: > > Quoting Herb Coleman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > There's a response to the adage about leading a horse to water. As > > educators, our job is not to "force them to drink" our job is to make > > them thirsty. Obviously what we are talking about here is motivation > > and we all know there are various means to motivate behavior. The > > textbooks say and Las Vegas tends to demonstrate that intermittent > > reinforcement seems to be the most effective. The question is how to > > apply that to teaching. Any thoughts? > > Strictly speaking, that's an easy question: pop quizzes. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Department of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ----------==========>>>>>>>>>> ��� <<<<<<<<<<==========---------- Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. John W. Nichols, M.A. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 (918) 595-7134 Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
