Middle School Motivation Research Plan

1. Middle School Motivation Research Plan Katherine Horst TE 891 Fall 2005

2. Research Question How do you motivate middle school students so that they eventually become self-motivated learners?

3. Sub-Questions What science activities increase motivation and student excitement? Is a lack of support at home causing a lack of motivation coming from the students? What motivates students the most? Grades? Rewards? Sheer knowledge? What percentage of students are actually self-motivated?

4. Research Rationale Being in my fourth year of teaching middle school I have started to notice a trend that middle school students seem to be less motivated to do well in school. I wanted to find out why students this age are less engaged and less self-motivated to learn. I also wanted to figure out what I could do to help my students to become more self-motivated learners.

6. Background Research Student needs in the classroom and goal theory were two topics that were very popular among the current motivational research.

7. Background Research Student needs include a need for mastery, a need for understanding, a need for self-expression, and a need for involvement with others (Strong). If student needs are being met, students are more likely to be successful and motivated to do well. There are many things teachers can do to ensure that student needs are met in our classroom.

8. Background Research The goal theory framework supports the idea that students are motivated to do school work for a variety of reasons. It suggests that the goals that students adopt have significant implications for how they approach and participate in learning. (Meece 2003)

10. Research Design I conducted my own research by collecting data in the form of student surveys, teacher notes, and student work. I kept a journal of notes taken at the end of the school day with observations I made on student behavior towards varying activities and assignments. I kept track of the quality of work that was be turned in by the students.

11. Data Analysis Student Surveys The academic subjects that students liked the most were science and social studies. Reasons for these choices included the teacher, achievement in that subject, and more opportunities for projects and labs. The science activities that students liked the most were longer projects where they were asked to create something. I was surprised by the fact that some students chose hands-on activities as their least favorite activity in science class. Students enjoy days when they do experiments & labs, have no homework, working in groups or with friends, and days when they are working on projects. The students said they find vocabulary, section reviews, and chapter reviews to be the most helpful kind of homework. Overall 62% of students reported that they like coming to school, 13% said they did not like school, and 25% said that they like school sometimes.

12. Data Analysis Teacher Notes/Student Work Over the course of a few weeks I noticed that students were showing more enthusiasm for projects and activities where they could work with other students. Students did not like getting homework, but understood why they were asked to do it. I noticed a larger percentage of missing homework assignments when they were worth ten points versus the assignments that were worth between 30 and 50 points like some labs and projects. The students seemed especially concerned about their grades on a lengthy week-long electricity project in which they were able to make their own light-up quiz game. I believe this is the case because they put a lot of time into it, it was worth a lot of points, and they actually produced something of their own to take home.

13. Conclusions Overall, I believe that middle school students are most motivated to do work and do it well then they know it is worth a lot towards their grade. They also seem to be motivated to do work when they get to work together with their peers. I also found that just because an activity is hands-on, doesn’t mean that all students will be more motivated to complete this task above any other.

14. Conclusions What does this mean for my classroom? Because of my findings I am forced to think about the activities that I currently do in my science classes. I am thinking about changing the way that I grade their daily homework. I still think that it is important for students, but I am trying to come up with a way to possibly lump some of the assignments together for one large homework grade. I have also thought about giving the students some choice about the type of homework assignments that they complete. That way they will take more ownership in the work they are completing.

15. Conclusions What does this mean for my classroom? As far as group work goes, I think I currently do a pretty good job at letting the students complete certain tasks in groups or with a partner. I think that at this age they are so social as it is that it may help to actually pair them up and let them actually discuss the work that they are doing. I am going to continue to do small group work and labs whenever the curriculum lends itself to it. I also think that I currently do a pretty good job of varying activities so that students do not get bored and are always trying new ways to work together towards a common goal of learning. Within each typical class period we move between two or three different types of activities so that the students don’t get bored with one activity.

16. Conclusions I have found this research project to be very valuable in helping to understand my students a little bit better. It helped me to look at the way I currently conduct my classroom and to help decide if there are ways to improve what I am already doing. I am looking forward to continuing with my research in the future and hope to gather even more insight into the middle school student.

17. Works Cited Anderman, L.H., & Midgley, C. (1997). Motivation and middle school students [Electronic version]. What Current Research Says to the Middle Level Practitioner, 41-48. Boyer, K.R. (2002). Using active learning strategies to motivate students. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle school, 8, 48. Ciadella, K., Herlin, C., & Hoefler, A. (2002). Motivating Student Learning to Enhance Academic Progress. Retrieved September 18, 2005 from Saint Xavier University, ERIC FirstSearch. Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2004). Comprehensive Classroom Management: Creating Communities of Support and Solving Problems. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Meece, J.L. (2003). Applying Learner-Centered Principles to Middle School Education. Theory Into Practice, 42, 109-116

18. Works Cited, cont. Murdock, T.B., & Miller, A. (2003). Teachers as sources of middle school students’ motivational identity: Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Analytic Approaches. The Elementary School Journal, 103, 383-399. Partin, R.L. (1999). Classroom Teacher’s Survival Guide: Practical Strategies, Management Techniques, and Reproducibles for New and Experienced Teachers. West Nyack, NY: The Center for Applied Research in Education. Sprick, R., Garrison, M., & Howard, L.M. (1998). CHAMPs: A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management. Longmont, Colorado: Sopris West. Strong, R., Silver, H.F., & Robinson, A. (1995). What really motivates middle school students? Educational Leadership. Wentzel, K.R., Barry, C.M., & Caldwell, K.A. (2004). Friendships in Middle School: Influences on Motivation and School Adjustment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 195-203.