Crafting Effective Choices to Motivate Students

by Kevin Perks

One of the biggest frustrations that many teachers wrestle with in the classroom is a lack of motivation among students. As teachers, we worry about how to motivate students who appear unmotivated and apathetic. We worry because as decades of research have revealed, motivation is integrally connected to achievement. We know that students who are motivated tend to learn more. Therefore, most teachers I work with often request strategies to foster motivation in the classroom.

One strategy that many teachers use to foster higher levels of interest and engagement is choice. However, research in the past decade has revealed that choice is not necessarily a cure-all for lackluster motivation. While choice can be a powerful motivator, on some occasions it can also have an adverse effect. In other words, not all choices have a positive effect on motivation and achievement. Therefore, it is helpful to consider a few factors that can help teachers design choices that have the potential to positively influence motivation and achievement.

• A sense of control. Effective choices help individuals feel in control. For years educational psychologists have known that an essential element of motivation is an individual's need to feel autonomous. In other words, people who believe that they have control tend to be more motivated than individuals who feel as if outside forces are compelling them. I was reminded of this recently when I brought my five-year old daughter to the doctor for her annual visit. She did not want to go inside, and she refused to look at the doctor when he entered the exam room. Craftily he took out his stethoscope to listen to her heart and the otoscope to look in her ears and eyes. He told her what they were for and said she could choose which tool he used first. Suddenly her mood reversed and she could not wait for him to examine her.
• A sense of purpose. A sense of purpose is another factor to consider when crafting choices. The more meaningful an activity is to the person engaging in it, the more likely he or she will be motivated to continue doing it. A sense of purposefulness or meaningfulness is also heightened if the activity strengthens relationships with others. An excellent example of a choice that fostered a greater sense of purpose comes from a math teacher who was frustrated by the lack of motivation some of her male students were displaying. When she gave the students the choice to use their fantasy football stats during class, their motivation began to soar. This choice allowed the mathematical concepts the teacher was teaching to become a meaningful tool to help the students connect with something they valued doing with each other. In other words, the choice helped the students see that math had a purpose in relation to something they cared about. As a result, achievement increased.
• A sense of competence. In addition to fostering a sense of control and purpose, effective choices also encourage students to feel competent, particularly on challenging tasks. In general, people who believe they will succeed during challenging activities tend to be more motivated. However, if tasks are perceived to be too difficult, motivation is likely to suffer. An example of this comes from an English teacher in middle school who was frustrated with the text-based discussions she was trying to have with her students. The students were not motivated to engage in conversations about the books they were reading, even when they were reading self-selected texts. But when the teacher started to use the students' questions rather than her own to frame discussions, motivation began to rise. She realized that her questions were often too difficult or too easy for the students. She came to understand that when the students asked their own questions, they were better able to target their own level of understanding. As a result, the challenge was just right. In addition, because the questions were the students' own, it was clear they felt more competent addressing them with their peers.

In short, choices that promote feelings of control, purpose, and competence are likely to be more motivating than choices that do not. However, while this information is extremely helpful when thinking about what kinds of choices to offer students, additional questions remain.

How much choice is appropriate to give?

When you want to give students choice, it is often optimal to give them a limited number of options, but be as flexible as possible. Since motivation depends upon an individual's perceptions of control, purpose, and competence, students may perceive the same set of options differently. For example, when a teacher assigns a research project, some students will prefer to have a broad range of topics, others will prefer a small list of options, and yet others will prefer to be told what to do. Giving students a short list of topics with an option to create their own topic, with the teacher's approval, often works well.

What kinds of choices should I offer students?

There are many kinds of choices that can have a positive effect on classroom motivation. When designing activities and lessons, it is useful to use what I refer to as the 4WH framework to decide what kinds of choices to provide students during any given unit, lesson, or activity. This framework encourages teachers to ask who, what, when, where, and how questions.

• Whom will students work with? When activities require students to work in groups, giving them some choice about whom they get to work with may increase motivation. Teachers may be concerned that disruptions will occur when students sit with their "buddies." Some mitigate this by allowing students to pick one or two friends they would like to work with. The teacher then takes these recommendations into consideration when making work groups.
• What content will students work with? When activities are designed to provide opportunities to practice specific skills, students appreciate being able to select the topics or content that they can work with. This helps give greater purpose or meaning to a task. For example, if a teacher wants students to practice comprehension skills, he or she may allow them to select from a list of short stories or interesting informational texts in order to find something that will appeal to their interests.
• When will students need to complete specific tasks? Many projects do not require students to complete a task or solve a problem in a linear fashion. Giving students flexibility about when they do parts of a task may foster higher levels of engagement because it gives them a sense of control and may allow them to regulate the difficulty of the task. A good example of this occurs when students are working on writing. Although the writing process has clear stages, writing is not a linear process. For instance, if students are working on a lab report, some students may need to work on revising, while others may need to focus on editing.
• Where will students work? Students do not always need to work at their desks. For example, one teacher noticed students were getting restless during independent reading in class. They became more motivated and less fidgety when the teacher allowed them to find a comfortable place to read. Some students chose to remain at their desks, others crawled under the desks, and still others found comfortable places elsewhere. Even simple choices like this can give students a meaningful sense of control.
• How will students complete a given task? Many tasks we ask students to complete do not need to be completed in the same manner. A math teacher I recently worked with regularly gives students the option of finding creative ways to solve math problems. She has commented that she continues to be impressed with the innovative ways students attempt to solve equations and other mathematical problems. Choices like this honor divergent ways of thinking and, in doing so, help promote strong feelings of competence in students.

Low motivation does not need to be a recurring problem in the classroom. Although teachers can draw from myriad strategies to cultivate higher levels of motivation, well-crafted choices have the potential to have a powerful impact on students' attitudes toward classroom work. When promoting student decision making, it is important to remember that some of the most motivating choices are those that promote feelings of control, competence, and purpose. Certainly, giving choice to students often means that teachers need to allow students to make their own decisions, and it can be difficult to give up this control. However, well-designed choices can sometimes mean the difference between a successful lesson and one that ends in frustration.

Kevin Perks is a literacy coordinator in southern Maine. He works with schools around the country and is currently cowriting a book on motivation in the classroom.

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