Chapter 10 page 208
Tasks
There are many different ways in which tasks can be designed so as to enhance students’
motivation. Four general ways are presented below, with some more specific techniques discussed within
each of the general categories.
Employ tasks that make learning interesting. To many people, the most obvious way of
increasing motivation is to make tasks interesting. And this is certainly an effective way. Interesting tasks
enhance motivation by increasing the value of the goal: Students are more likely to want to engage in tasks
that are inherently interesting.
One way to make tasks more interesting is to use tasks that involve suspense, surprise, discovery,
exploration, and fantasy. Teachers can increase interest by doing the unexpected, by inducing perplexity
or bafflement, by using relevant simulations and games when it is instructionally productive to do so.
Another way to increase task interest is to vary tasks from day to day. Even interesting tasks can
get monotonous if there is no variation. An English teacher who is skilled at holding interesting class
discussions may find that if she does this every single day, student interest wanes. Varying activities from
day to day can make a difference.
Increase the relevance of tasks. If students understand that instructional tasks are relevant to their
lives and goals, then they will increase the value of the goal of participating in the task; motivation will thus
increase.
There are two main ways of increasing the relevance of tasks. One is to use tasks that are clearly
relevant to the real world. When students complete worksheets, they will have probably have little belief
that this activity has anything to do with the real world. When they formulate a detailed plan for converting
a vacant lot to a park and present their plan to the city council, they will clearly understand the relevance of
their class activities. Computer simulations can mimic real world situations such as conducting scientific
research or developing and executing marketing plans. Class activities such as mock trials also clearly
simulate real-world activities. Later in this textbook, in the chapter on Teaching for Transfer, you will learn
about creating authentic activities in the classroom that students will view as highly relevant.
The second main way of increasing the relevance of tasks is to clearly explain to students how it is
that what they are doing is relevant to the real world. Teachers can begin each lesson with a reason why
students should be motivated.
Good examples: “I think you’ll like this, and it will come in handy at home, as well.”
“The problems we’re doing today is like the ones that engineers do every day.”
Bad examples: “I know you won’t like this, but... .”
“This is really boring stuff, I know, but I don’t have any choice--we have to cover it.”
It is tempting to make statements like the bad examples because you might want to let students know that
you empathize with their lack of interest in a required topic that you yourself would rather not have to
teach. But messages like this are counterproductive.
More examples of ways to make what students are learning relevant to their lives include using
everyday examples in chemistry, relating economic concepts of supply and demand to television
advertisements, and relating a novel to students own relationships.