Understanding the complexities of student motivations
Janet G. Walter and Janelle Hart have written an article about the interesting issue of Understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning . The article was recently published in The Journal of Mathematical Behavior . Here is the abstract of their article: Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. However, commonly held distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations may be insufficient to inform our understandings of student motivations in learning mathematics or to appropriately shape pedagogical decisions. Here, motivation is defined, in general, as an individual's desire, power, and tendency to act in particular ways. We characterize details of motivation in mathematical learning through qualitative analysis of honors calculus students’ extended, collaborative problem solving efforts within a longitudinal research project in learning and teaching. Contextual Motivation Theory emerges as an interpretive means for und...