In my previous post, I shared some thoughts about the motivation to learn. Today I’m thinking about the momentum that motivation generates. There are a number of factors that can generate motivation. These can include: Active participation Intrinsic and prompt feedback Challenging but achievable goals A mix of uncertainty and open-endedness Active participation in a […]
Archive | Psychology
RSS feed for this sectionBothered? What motivation to learn?
The initial challenge for any learning is to determine, encourage and exploit an individual’s motivation so I’ve been thinking a little about what motivates us to learn and what motivation can acheive. Particularly after enforced schooling has finished. K.Patricia Cross identifies a number of reasons why adults choose to learn voluntarily: For its own sake When it […]
Rewarding learning
My little girl was ‘Star of the Week’ at her school last week for ‘great number work.’ She was ecstatic to receive the recognition. And it’s a big encouragement to her to keep on trying. I’m very proud of her. Coincidentally but far more trivially, I went up a level in Modern Warfare 2. […]
Reflecting on gameplay
I lose a lot of games. In fact, on balance I almost certainly lose more times than I win. But I’m not going to let it get me down. Repeated failure in games demonstrates a number of important aspects of in-game learning. The fact that getting it wrong, often terminally, is an intrinsic part of […]
TV – the social media
In the last few years, some commentators have predicted the death of television, some even championed it, declaring that it was obsolete – superseded by interactive media that offer true user participation. They cite massive user figures for the likes of Facebook, World of Warcraft as evidence that traditional media is on it’s way out. […]
Where play meets learning
Play’ and ‘games’ are dirty words to many traditional educationalists because of their connotations of trivial, wasteful and indulgent activity. It might hark back to our WASP-ish philosophy that only hardship and suffering are good for the soul. Even the seminal play theorist, Johan Huizinga, argued that play is “an activity connected with no […]
Creativity, Wooing Women and Disneyland
The evolutionary psychologist, Geoffrey Miller, has published many papers speculating about the development of human creativity – that is, why would we evolve in such a way that we create apparently wasteful artefacts such as art, poetry, humour and music? According to Miller it is all about the Mating Mind – it’s peacock feathers and […]
Violent Play – Rubbing salt into the wound
I came across an interesting research paper today in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal. Brad Bushman (Ohio State University) and Bryan Gibson (Central Michigan University) suggest that the aggression associated with violent video games can persist long after the game play has finished. Many people, notably Craig Anderson of the Department of Psychology at […]
Where success counts
Last week I listened to two fascinating talks from TEDxSheffield. The first was by Richard St John based on his book, The 8 traits successful people have in common (Amazon link). St John describes the results of an extensive survey he’s conducted of the world’s most successful people – leaders from all fields and walks […]
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
I get quite cross when some says “I’m no good at that” or “I can’t do that” or worse “You’re stupid.” I’m especially conscious of it as a dad of two small children. I believe talk like that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if it is said often enough about someone, they’ll live up to […]