Chapter 10 page 210
Give students opportunities to take leadership roles in learning activities. For example,
students can take turns leading small group discussions. Or in group work, students can take turns being
the group leader.
Give students choices over what learning activities to engage in and/or how to engage in the
activities. You can also give students choices about what they learn or how they learn it. Allow students to
pick which book they will read for a class project. Allow students to select their own books to read during
free reading period. Allow students to investigate a scientific question of their own choosing; for instance,
students might decide to investigate why some of the trees on the school grounds are dying (xx).
Choices over how to learn something might involve something as simple as choosing which order
they do practice problems. Researchers have found positive effects on motivation and even learning with
simple choices such as this. As another example, students might choose where to sit during free reading
periods, or they might choose whether they want to study a textbook chapter using outlining or concept
mapping.
Researchers have found that seemingly minor choices that are actually irrelevant to what is being
learned can have positive effects on learning and motivation. In one study (Lepper, xx), children learned
about the order of operations in mathematics (e.g., carrying out multiplication before addition in a problem
such as “3 x 4 + 5 x 6 = ?” They learned as they played a computer game involving motifs of flying
spaceships in outer space. Those students who were simply allowed to choose which spaceship they would
use in the game learned more and were more interested than students who were assigned the spaceship they
would use. This was true even though which spaceship was used was completely irrelevant to what was
being learned. Thus, there can be strong benefits to providing choices that seem very minor.
When you give students choices, be careful to avoid the problem that students may make unwise
choices. For instance, if you allow students to choose their own book for a report, some students may
choose books that are far too easy for them; others may choose books that are too hard. You need to
provide structure for students’ choices and guidance in what can be chosen. For example, you could give
students a choice of what book to read but set guidelines for how difficult the book should be (e.g., no more
than 4 words you don’t know on an average page).
Simulations, games, and projects give students a great deal of choice about how to proceed with
the activities.
Help students learn strategies that will help them regulate their choices. One way to help
students make wise choices is to explicitly teach them the strategies for making good choices. For example,
teachers can teach students how to choose books to read that are the right level of challenge.
Recognition Dimension
To fill all the letters in the TARGET acronym, researchers differentiated between Recognition (R)
and Evaluation (E). In fact, however, it is very difficult to sharply distinguish between actions that provide
recognition and actions that provide evaluation. For instance, if a teacher assigns an A to a paper, the
teacher is evaluating the student’s work, but she is also providing recognition to the student for a job well
done. Similarly, if the teacher praises a student in class, the teacher is providing recognition, but she is also
letting the student know that the student’s work has been evaluated positively.
Because it is so difficult to separate the R and E dimensions of TARGET, I will discuss them
together below, under the evaluation section.
Grouping Dimension
Make opportunities for cooperative group learning and peer interaction. One way to add
situational interest to tasks is to have students work in groups. Opportunities to work in groups