Motivation
Background
Motivation to learn (or lack thereof) is a major influencing factor in the learning process. The aim of the pupils meeting at Gymnasium Beekvliet was to have the pupils investigate and discuss in international groups which issues have a positive or negative effect on motivation and how these could be adjusted to improve motivation. They did this based on their own experience, an extensive survey held among pupils of their own schools, a workshop provided by experts in the filed of motivation and visits to six schools which use an apporach to educational aimed at increasing motivation, e.g. by offering increased autonomy and choice to their pupils.
Based on this pupils put together concrete proposals how to improve motivation, both aimed at what a school and teachers can do but also, and perhaps even more importantly, what pupils can do to help each other in this respect (“peer support”). The aim is that these proposals will lead to specific developments within each school to increase motivation for learning.
Workshops
A workshop was given to the pupils on the subject of motivation by Dutch experts in the field (Eefje Teeuwisse and Stefan van Langevelde), who have done extensive research regarding motivation among pupils of secondary schools in The Netherlands. The workshop focused on the one hand on providing information on the subject, and on the other hand aimed to stimulate the pupils to think and discuss among each other about motivating factors and ways to improve motivation, culminating in a short movie they put together on the subject.
A second workshop focused on debating skills. In the light of peer support (one of the main themes of our project) this workshop was provided by eight pupils of the Utrecht Stedelijk Gymnasium (Utrecht, The Netherlands), who are members of a very active, fully pupil-run, debating club in their school (Hybris). The participating pupils were taught the basic principles of debating andperformed actual debates.
Later on, this concept was also used for a workshop at Gymnasium Beekvliet, in which teachers and pupils debated various educational issues in order to weigh their benefits for the school.
Presentations & Toolkits
Six international groups, consisting of representatives of each participating school, presented their proposals for improving motivation to each other and an alderman of the town of Sint-Michielsgestel responsible for education at the town hall. The proposals made in these presentations are considered the toolkit, based on which the schools will discuss possibilities to integrate (a number of) these in their development plans and implement them.
Outcomes
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Please see under "Results" for more information about the outcomes.