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Lesson Transcript
In this lesson, you'll see how motivation a‫�ﵽ‬ects learning. Discover the behaviors and perspectives that relate to motivation in an educational environment.

Motivation
Erik and Andrew are in the same 戒묿rst grade class. Erik loves any activity that involves coloring, drawing or illustrating. He spends all of his free time engaged in these sorts of activities, sometimes oblivious to other things going on in the classroom. Andrew, on the other hand, dislikes drawing and art and will avoid it at all costs. Both students are high achievers and good listeners, but they are motivated by completely di‫�ﵽ‬erent interests and activities. In the classroom, motivation drives many behaviors and it is important to understand the importance of motivation in an educational environment.
Motivation is described as a state that energizes, directs and sustains behavior. Motivation involves goals and requires activity. Goals provide the impetus for and the direction of action, while action entails e‫�ﵽ‬ort: persistence in order to sustain an activity for a long period of time.
There are recognized indices of motivation that are important to be aware of. Indices typically place a value or quantity on an idea; in this case, we can understand the value or quantity of motivation for an individual by these four indices.
The selection of a task under free-choice conditions indicates motivation to perform the task.
In our earlier example, Erik chose to engage in art activities during his free time. This is indicative of being motivated by art and art-type activities.
High e‫�ﵽ‬ort levels, especially when working on di‫�ﵽ‬erent tasks and assignments, are also indicative of motivation. For example, if a student diligently works on a diﾯ딩cult algebra problem again and again, this would indicate a higher level of motivation towards math activities. Working for a longer period of time, especially after encountering numerous obstacles, is also associated with higher motivation. For example, John, a student in PE class, was unable to master jumping rope, but he chose to continue trying to jump rope during recess; this time on task indicates a high level of motivation towards mastering the activity of jumping rope.

The indices of motivation

Finally, level of achievement is a‫�ﵽ‬ected by choice, e‫�ﵽ‬ort and persistence. The higher these indices, the higher the motivation and the more likely task achievement will occur.
In the classroom, educators should be aware of these indices in an e‫�ﵽ‬ort to reinforce activities and interests that students already show an existing partiality for. There is an actual term for this - it's called situational motivation.
Situational motivation is a phenomenon in which aspects of the immediate environment enhance motivation to learn particular things or behave in particular ways. Educators can do many things to create a classroom environment that motivates students to learn and behave in ways that promote their long-term success.

How Motivation A‫�ﵽ‬ects Learning & Behavior
Motivation has several e‫�ﵽ‬ects on students' learning and behavior.
First, motivation directs behavior toward particular goals. Motivation determines the speci戒묿c goals toward which people strive; thus, it a‫�ﵽ‬ects the choices students make. For example, whether to enroll in an art class or physics, whether to attend a school basketball game during the week or complete an assignment that's due the next day.
Motivation also leads to increased e‫�ﵽ‬ort and energy. Motivation determines whether a student will pursue a task (even a diﾯ딩cult one) with enthusiasm or a lackluster attitude.
Motivation increases the initiation and persistence of activities. In our 戒묿rst example, Erik continued with art-type activities in his free time and he also tried to perform these types of activities in relation to his other assignments. Motivation will increase students' time on task and is also an important factor a‫�ﵽ‬ecting their learning and achievement.
Motivation enhances cognitive processing. Motivation actually a‫�ﵽ‬ects what and how information is processed because motivated students are more likely to pay attention and try to understand the material instead of simply going through the motions of learning in a super戒묿cial manner.
Motivation determines what consequences are reinforcing and punishing. For example,