© Sarah McElwee

Supporting exceptionally able children’s motivation for learning

Sarah McElwee

University of Oxford

Giftedkids.ie webinar

19th May 2010

© Sarah McElwee

A conundrum….

• Why do some very bright children underachieve in school, despite their many gifts? Why do others, who seem “less bright”, thrive and accomplish far more than anyone ever expected?

• Beliefs, motivation and how they are inter-linked

© Sarah McElwee

An overview of what’s coming up...

• More than one type of underachievement?

• How beliefs about what it means to be intelligent affect motivation

• Praise and motivation

• Linking challenge and Assessment for Learning for motivation

• Extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and when to use them

© Sarah McElwee

Lack of motivation in gifted children often sparks

Anger

Confusion

Frustration

in parents and teachers

Gifted but not motivated?

That’s just LAZY

© Sarah McElwee

Underachievement – effort and outcomes

+ Effort -

1st Quarter

+ +

Achievers

2nd Quarter

+ -

Underachievers

3rd Quarter

- +

Underachievers

4th Quarter

- -

Underachievers

+

Outcome

-

© Sarah McElwee

Behind the scenes of underachievement...

• Lots of psychological factors at work within the able child, based on their experiences of learning and how they are defined by society & education system

• Perfectionism

• Boredom

• Self-esteem

• Beliefs about intelligence

© Sarah McElwee

The role of motivation

• Key ingredient in outstanding achievement

• Extraordinary output stems from the ability to sustain intense commitment for long periods in the face of obstacles

• “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”

• 10,000 hours of practice

• Goes against our stereotypical beliefs of what it means to be gifted

© Sarah McElwee

Students’ “theories of intelligence”

• Carol Dweck argues that children hold one of two views or “mindsets” about intelligence

• Fixed Mind-set (Performance orientation)

“You have a certain amount of intelligence and you can’t do anything to change it”

• Growth Mind-set (Mastery orientation)

“Anyone, no matter who they are, can increase their intelligence & performance substantially”

© Sarah McElwee

Graphic by Nigel Holmes

© Sarah McElwee

Can theories of intelligence be changed?

We should praise children’s ability in order to make them feel good about themselves and

bolster self-esteem

© Sarah McElwee

Can theories of intelligence be changed?

We should praise children’s ability in order to make them feel good about themselves and

bolster self-esteem

• 80% of parents agree with this statement

• It’s not that simple. Let’s look at what praise for intelligence really does….

© Sarah McElwee

Dweck’s experiment

• Children given puzzles to solve

• First set challenging but well within their ability

• “you must be smart at these problems” vs. “you must have worked hard at these problems”

• Second set of much more difficult problems

• Huge differences between the groups

Mueller & Dweck, (1998)

© Sarah McElwee

Intelligence

praise

Effort praise

Student’s goal Look smart, no

matter what

Learn new things

even if risky

What does failure

mean?

Low intelligence Low effort

Enjoyment after

difficulty

Low High

Persistence after

difficulty

Low High

Deception about

performance

High Low

Performance after

difficulty

Impaired Improved

© Sarah McElwee

Effects with younger children

• Ability praise : you’re really good at this

• Goodness praise: you’re a good girl

• General approval: I’m very proud of you

• Effort praise: You must have tried very hard

• Strategy praise: you found a good way to do it – can you think of other ways?

Ability beliefs become more ingrained over time…

© Sarah McElwee

Relevance to highly able children• Gifted children are among those most at risk of non-

contingent intelligence praise

• When tasks are easy, don’t have to expend effort

• Praise follows for “mysterious trait” of intelligence

• Need to learn that they can master challenging tasks through effort over time, not that they are smart and praiseworthy when they do things that are easy for them

• Gifted girls especially at risk

• Feeds back into perfectionistic behaviour – chasing the “intelligence” that wins praise

© Sarah McElwee

What can parents do? • Be careful of how you praise • Try not to praise for low-challenge, low-effort, no-

mistake success.• Acknowledge effort & enjoyment.• Ask questions that stimulate critical thinking.• Demonstrate that you too find things hard sometimes

and have to work to find the solution.

© Sarah McElwee

What can teachers do?

• Change the perception of “mistakes”

• Communicate aims clearly

• Encourage

– self-evaluation and reflection on work.

– Pupils to identify who they can ask for help

• Model excitement in confronting a challenge

© Sarah McElwee

Encouraging able children to embrace challenge

Why bother?

• Education as a journey vs. an endurance test

• Entitlement to an education that serves their needs and stretches them to the limits of their capabilities, while offering support to help them achieve this.

• The less effort pupils have to expend on work, the more vulnerable they are to “fixed” theories of intelligence

• Because challenge catches up with all of us eventually!

© Sarah McElwee

When pupils are happy and engaged...

....they are more likely to

1. Self-regulate their learning

2. Set realistic expectations

3. Apply appropriate strategies for academic success

© Sarah McElwee

Assessment for Learning

© Sarah McElwee

What constitutes challenge?

• Opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, independence

• Carefully pitched– Avoidance of “coasting” BUT child must also be

reassured of their capabilities

– Activities just outside grasp

• Avoid situations where the child will either be a winner or a loser but try to model dealing with competition effectively

© Sarah McElwee

© Sarah McElwee

Helping pupils to overcome low motivation...

“Why try?”

• Building value into learning for the pupil

• Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards

© Sarah McElwee

Extrinsic motivation

• Laying foundations

– Why is this useful?

– Setting short and long-term goals

– Long-term perspective

– Community mentors?

© Sarah McElwee

• Help learners to plan & organise

– Encourages mindset that task is “doable”

– Minimises the unknown

• Performance- avoidant pupils need detailed instructions & evaluation criteria

• A few attainable & realistic goals are infinitely better than a “wish list”

© Sarah McElwee

Extrinsic motivation

• Demonstrate utility

– Why is this useful?

– Setting short and long-term goals

– Long-term perspective

– Community mentors?

• Using rewards?

– Be careful!

– Extrinsic rewards can demotivate if child already motivated

© Sarah McElwee

Extrinsic motivation

• Demonstrate utility

– Why is this useful?

– Setting short and long-term goals

– Long-term perspective

– Community mentors?

• Using rewards?

– Be careful!

– Extrinsic rewards can demotivate if child already motivated

Intrinsic motivation

• Tasks are moderately novel, optimally challenging, interesting.

• Offer choices in learning

• Tough but achievable

• Immediate feedback

• Language is important

– Is a task “difficult” or “intriguing”?

© Sarah McElwee

Thinking honestly about what motivates...

© Sarah McElwee

Building on growth mindsets• Feedback should include

Recognition of talent

Attribution of its development to the pupil.

• Recognising growth

– Keep examples of work and build portfolios to show progress

– Encourage pupils to compete with themselves (not others! ) by keeping a tally of their own progress

© Sarah McElwee

Closing remarks

• Gifted children, as individuals with different learning needs, may need help to develop or maintain motivation.

• Challenge is important but our conceptions of intelligence affect our willingness to take it on board.

• Extrinsic and intrinsic motivators both have roles; ultimately it’s about building interest and enjoyment.

• Be aware of what motivates you and how that may differ from what motivates your child/pupil

© Sarah McElwee

“Learning to embrace the occasional tumble can lead you to achieve new heights”

Graphic by James Yang from Stanford Alumni Magazine