John, I'm a little surprised at your cynicism. Obviously we teach the fascinating subject in the world (human behavior). I think we can easily whet students appetites by talking about things that interest them beyond GPA. I am surprised each semester when a student mentions that she has tried one of my operant suggestion on her boyfriend and got him not only to pick up his clothes but put them in the hamper. Also since many of my student are also parents, discussions how techniques can be applied to child rearing often take over our class. By demonstrating that what we teach has real life application to help students get what they want often leaves them thirsty for more. Often just the exploration of the possibilities makes them more interested.
Subject: Re: Make them thirsty From: "John W. Nichols, M.A." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 11:45:21 -0600 X-Message-Number: 4
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.
When I first mentioned about "making them thirsty", I was hoping it would spark a discussion on motivational techniques. In the analogy of the horse, obviously you can make the horse thirsty simply by riding it long and hard. You can deprive it of water for a time or feed it salty foods.
When it comes to students, I'm not sure if saying "this will be on the test" is a carrot or a stick but I'm willing to be that my creative colleagues can think of other ways to "make them thirsty" by applying psychological principles.
--
Herb Coleman
Instructional Technology Manager
Adjunct Psychology Professor
Austin Community College
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
512-223-3076
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* Every action has a connected and directed * * pre-action. *
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-Herb Coleman after seeing "Bowling for Columbine"
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