For students to be successful in the classroom they must established these 3 basic human needs first: Physiological, Safety, and Love & Belonging. The human body cannot function optimally if physiological needs are not satisfied (Mcleod, S., 2024). These needs include things like food, water, & sleep which are necessary for students to maintain focus & attention and regulate emotions & behaviors. Maslow considered physiological needs the most important as all the other needs become secondary until these needs are met (Mcleod, S., 2024). Secondary to physiological needs are safety needs such as shelter, healthcare and financial needs, and emotional & social security. The third need that can affect students’ motivation and engagement in class is love & belonging. This need is important for emotional and interpersonal connections. A students need to feel accepted by others especially their peers often boost their classroom engagement and motivation for learning. Students that face various insecurities will often find difficulties in classroom motivation and engagement due to a deficiency in the basic needs of either physiological, security, and/or emotional needs which can lead to hunger, restless, depression, or stress. Once these needs have been met and maintained at a level where the student is not constantly searching for those lower-level needs is when students will gain greater sense of motivation & engagement in the classroom. This comes as students shift their concerns to gaining a higher level of confidence and eventually self-esteem.
Sociocultural and cognitive factors that can affect student motivation & engagement are students’ feeling the need for certain curriculum being taught. There are some cultures that do not value the need in learning certain instructional activities like algebra due to personal beliefs acquiring more functional life skills. Therefore, students may prioritize certain learning such as reading skills over writing skills thus motivation and engagement in these areas will be affected. Teachers can address these factors by establishing clear definitions for why different categories of learning is important for their future knowledge. Learners must believe there are benefits in performing a task or learning about a subject area (Ormrod, et. al., 2020). Once students discover the value in their learning, they will find motivation and become more engaged in classroom activities.
When teachers have high expectations for students, they present more challenging tasks and topics, interact with students more frequently, and give more positive and specific feedback (Ormrod, et. al., 2020). One example of a teacher attribute is through emotions showing compassion for both students’ successes and failures in classroom activities. Another example is through communication, verbally expressing through praise how well a student is behaving and improving. Teachers who show disapproval through negative feedback or simply ignoring student’s accomplishments will most likely hinder classroom motivation and engagement.
To promote student motivation and engagement teach autonomy by giving students some choices about what and how they learn (Ormrod, et. al., 2020). Allow students to collaborate on instructional goals, taking leadership roles during various activities. Provide recognition through acknowledging individual and group successes (Ormrod, et. al., 2020). Offer positive reinforcers when students have accomplished certain goals. In addition to these, provide sufficient time for subject and skill mastery. Teachers should offer extended time for students to work through and explore classroom concepts which helps to enhance curiosity creating motivation and engagement momentum for the life-long learner.
References:
Mcleod, S., 2024. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Ormrod, J. E., Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2020). Educational psychology (10th ed.). Pearson Education. https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9780135208236/epub/OPS/xhtml/fileP70010157610000000000000000036DF.html
Carol Dweck, 2014. The Power of Believing You Can Improve. TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve