Assignment: Motivation In Learning Theory

Assignment: Motivation In Learning Theory

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Read the instructions in the University of Phoenix Material: Applications of Motivation in Learning Theory, and select one option to complete the assignment. You can choose from the following options:

• Option 1: Environmental and Evolutionary Psychology Transcript
• Option 2: Environmental and Evolutionary Psychology Brochure
• Option 3: Forensic Psychology Transcript
• Option 4: Forensic Psychology Literature Handout
• Option 5: Health and Sports Psychology Plan
• Option 6: Health and Sports Psychology Literature Chapter
• Option 7: Industrial/Organizational Psychology Presentation
• Option 8: Industrial/Organizational Psychology Handout

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

Anyone you chose is fine with me.

The theory proposes that understanding motivation requires taking into account three basic human needs: autonomy—the need to feel free of external constraints on behavior. competence—the need to feel capable or skilled. relatedness—the need to feel connected or involved with others.

Not so long ago, a teacher named Barbara Fuller taught general science to elementary years students, and one of her units was about insects and spiders. As part of the unit, she had students search for insects and spiders around their own homes or apartments. They brought the creatures to school (safely in jars), answered a number of questions about them in their journals, and eventually gave brief oral reports about their findings to the class. The assignment seemed straightforward, but Barbara found that students responded to it in very different ways. Looking back, here is how Barbara described their responses:

I remember Jose couldn’t wait to get started, and couldn’t bear to end the assignment either! Every day he brought more bugs or spiders—eventually 25 different kinds. Every day he drew pictures of them in his journal and wrote copious notes about them. At the end he gave the best oral presentation I’ve ever seen from a third-grader; he called it “They Have Us Outnumbered!” I wish I had filmed it, he was so poised and so enthusiastic.

Then there was Lindsey—the one who . . . always wanted to be the best in everything, regardless of whether it interested her. She started off the work rather slowly—just brought in a few bugs and only one spider. But she kept an eye on what everyone else was bringing, and how much. When she saw how much Jose was doing, though, she picked up her pace, like she was trying to match his level. Except that instead of bringing a diversity of creatures as Jose was doing, she just brought more and more of the same ones—almost twenty dead house flies, as I recall! Her presentation was OK—I really could not give her a bad mark for it—but it wasn’t as creative or insightful as Jose’s. I think she was more concerned about her mark than about the material.

And there was Tobias—discouraging old Tobias. He did the work, but just barely. I noticed him looking a lot at other students’ insect collections and at their journal entries. He wasn’t cheating, I believe, just figuring out what the basic level of work was for the assignment—what he needed to do simply to avoid failing it. He brought in fewer bugs than most others, though still a number that was acceptable. He also wrote shorter answers