"A self-determination approach to understanding students' motivation in project work"

"A self-determination approach to understanding students' motivation in project work"

Woon Chia Liu ⁎, C.K. John Wang, Oon Seng Tan, Caroline Koh, Jessie Ee National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

The article outlines a study on project based learning examining self determination theory which examines the productivity and success of group based project work given varying levels constraints and motivation. The results of the study show that "'high self-determined/low controlled' group was the most adaptive cluster, and the 'low self-determined/high controlled' group was the least adaptive cluster." Below is an excerpt from the article that explains

"SDT distinguishes among four types of behavioral regulations with different degrees of self-determined motivation. Ex- ternal regulation, the least self-determined form of extrinsic motiva- tion, refers to behavior that is controlled by external means, such as rewards or external authority. Introjected regulation refers to behavior that is internally controlled or self-imposed, such as acting out of guilt avoidance or ego-enhancements. Identified regulation, a more self- determined form of extrinsic motivation, refers to acting according to one's choice or values. Finally, intrinsic motivation, the highest level of self-determination, refers to behavior that emanates fully from the self and is undertaken solely for its own sake or enjoyment."

I think that what teachers dream about is some sort of success in inspiring intrinsic motivation in our students. The success of project based learning with minimal constraints does make sense to me. With reduced teacher involvement of the project's determination students are pushed to take greater ownership and hopefully become intrinsically motivated in the process. With the increase of teacher involved constraints, there must also be teacher involvement in developing motivation. I've got to try this out.