center for GACULY iDEA PAPER NO.] EVALUNiON& DEVELOPVENI August,1979 Motivating Students William E.Cashin* Kansas State University Few college teachers would deny skills,knowledge,attitudes and the premise that motivated students beliefs considered important by the are easier to teach,or that the teacher. students who are interested in learning do,in fact,learn more. Research at the Center for the Anyone who has taught a required Study of Motivation and Human course can attest to the fact. Abilities (Frymier,1970)indicates Studies of the IDEA system (e.g., that:(1)Motivation to learn in Cashin and Perrin,1978)have school is not fixed,but it is not consistently found that the students' changed drastically in short periods motivation (measured by their of time either.It may be that a response to the statement "I had a semester is entirely too short a strong desire to take this course") time to change an individual's has a potent influence on their motivational pattern very much. ratings of how much they have learned. (2)Motivation should be thought of A recent study at Kansas State in optimal not maximal terms. University using a wide range of Either too much or too little courses (Clegg,1979)found that motivation may impede learning. even though students answer this item (3)Positively motivated students at the end of the course,those (those who want to learn)have responses correlate highly (r=.93) stronger and more positive self with their answer to the same ques- images.(4)Values and perceptions tion asked the first day of class. of time vary with the strength of This means students remember their motivation.The more positively initial level of motivation.This motivated students are aware of the does not mean that teachers need past,present and future in making suffer through a course with whatever decisions and deciding on future level of motivation,or unmotivation, actions,while those students who that greets them the first day of are not motivated to learn in school class. tend to either hold on to or try to avoid certain aspects of their Motivation comes from a experience.The net result is that combination of forces--forces which operate both from within and without *The majority of the ideas in this the individual's mind.The real paper have been adapted from materials challenge to the teacher is to used by Dick Owens in his course, encourage and take advantage of Principles of College Teaching,and student motivation in ways that will his article in KSU Teaching Notes harmonize with the acquisition of (0wens,1972)