Module 3

"There are three things to remember about education. The first is motivation. The second is motivation. The third is motivation. " (Maehr & meyer 1997)

Goals and goal achievement has a few sub divisions- the kinds of social and academic goals students bring to the classroom, the motivating properties, and the classroom reward structure that either influence the behavior or influence the will to continue to learn. ( pg. 72 covington)

Motives as drives- an internal state, need, or condition that impels individuals toward action. (pg 173 covington) These have been directed as things like social approval, power, achievement, emotional factor of success and failure.

Motives as goals- entice individuals toward action. All actions are given meaning, direction, and purpose by goals that they seek out (pg 174 covington)

Learning goals vs performance goals: The best way I saw to understand this is to compare them. From my understanding learning goals increase understanding and appreciation for what they are learning. Performance goals are outperforming others. Both goals seem to lead to achievement of some kind, and having both of them would lead to more cognition and so on. In learning goals the students seem to use more self regulation. Performance goal oriented students are either approach or avoidant.

Self determination theory talks why people engage in certain tasks. Two things were determined when they talked about intrinsic motivational theories and self determination- one was that humans are motivated to maintain some level of stimulation, and two that humans have basic needs for competence. (pg112, eccles) I thought it was interesting how they talk about extrinsic motivations also can play a role. Some people have the motivation to go to work, but the type of job they take may be more of a result of extrinsic.

Self regulation is key thing that sticks out to me in goals and motivation in general. Self regulation is talked about how the individual does to go toward their goal- things like planning out when they will work, what they need to work on, making time for things, etc. As they learn they self regulate the material-- an example that I find when Im talking with my players about plays is how they self regulate it. My motivated players- whether intrinsic or extrinsic seem to listen and watch the play being drawn up, they they write i t down in their play book and make notes that make sense to them. They will write things like where they would be in the play and the specific actions they need to make. Many of them will then go walk through it and come back if they have any questions. They then in turn are the ones that are walking others through it. They have planned out and figured a way that allowed them to reach their goal or succeed in an area based on their regulation- they made it happen and took a process to reach it. This is allows them to either succeed or if they fail- go back and figure out what they missed along the way. The example happens all the time because for those players that do not follow a process or do self regulate get discouraged in practice when they can not understand or figure out how to do the play.

The concept of performance goal oriented students also speaks to me a lot. The idea that they are either approach or avoidance plays a huge role in any setting. Those who approach success tend to me more effort oriented in what they are trying to learn and those that fear failure seem to have less effort and task persistence. When we are looking for a player a mixture of learning goal oriented and performance goal oriented toward success is what we want to find. Im sure as I think about this any classroom could see how a mixture of those would create for a great student.


Covington, Goal Theory, Motivation, Achievement, 2001.