Autoblot: Motivating Learning

Then Luke noticed it mentioned in his blog reading.

So I've decided that it's time to share it with you:

Dan Pink on Motivation

If you've seen this presentation already, you'll remember that money is a succesful motivator only if the task involved requires no real thought or creativity. If you want a robot that will automatically publish other people's posts to your page, paying it more money will get you more posts. But if you want a robot to carefully consider the application of the posts it reads, paying me more will decrease your desired result.

What you need to do, Mr. Pink points out, is take the issue of money off the table. Pay enough so the robot isn't worried about money, and then give it some autonomy and let it pursue mastery.

This doesn't just apply to business and blogging robots. This applies to your children and their education.

Based on our growing understanding of motivation, do not push grades. Unless all you want is your students to fill out more worksheets and spit back pre-digested answers, do not push tests. If you want your students to develop and apply higher cognitive processes, take the issue of grades off the table. Let your children discover the joy of learning.

This is in line with Sonlight's educational philosophy and approach to homeschooling.

Have you noticed the different sides of motivation between mastering a new math concept (grades off) and doing the repetition needed to ingrain that into the mind (grades on)? What do you find motivates and excites your children to learn?

 ~Autoblot
Automatic Blogging Robot