Philosophy
There are three basic approaches to motivating students to learn: love, utility, and fear. If students love something, if they are interested in a subject, if they are excited by it, then they'll put it in the time and effort needed to acquire the understanding. If they think it is useful, that they will be able to employ the knowledge for some other end that they desire, then they'll try to gain it. Then there are the cases where we convince them that they'll sink if they don't put everything into it, we keep them in perpetual worry about being called on and humiliated if they do not know the answer.
The question is how effective this third approach is. No doubt it can be used successfully to accomplish a physical task, say moving a pile rocks, but what about when it is a cerebral matter? Is fear a successful motivator for learning?
- What's The Difference: Worry, Fear, And Anxiety
I was invited to sit in on a colleague's abnormal psychology class last week. No, I was not used as an exhibit. During the discussion, they were distinguishing between the ways in which mental health professionals use the words "worry,"...
- Quizzes And Paternalism
So, at this time of semester I give quizzes every class drilling the rules of inference and equivalences needed to do natural deduction proofs. It is the same quiz day after day after day. When a student asked why I do this, I was honest and said that...
- Other Than Grades
With the holidays last week, I wasn't able to answer several questions, so let's get to a few more of them this week. Jeff asks, "So the problems with the "grade model" of education are fairly obvious, and discussed before on this blog. The worry,...
- Fear, Love, And Experimental Philosophy
JMH asks, Why do people fear the unknown?Humans are amazing in this way. We will fight change even when it would benefit us. While I generally do not buy into a lot of the larger claims of evolutionary psychology, I do think that this is the fear of the...
- Homophobia And Anti-semitism
During the "ask any question, auto mechanics to quantum mechanics" section of class yesterday, a male student asked why other men were made uncomfortable by his conversing with them from a stall in the men's room. The discussion opened up to explain...
Philosophy
How Effective Is Fear as a Motivator in the Classroom?
There are three basic approaches to motivating students to learn: love, utility, and fear. If students love something, if they are interested in a subject, if they are excited by it, then they'll put it in the time and effort needed to acquire the understanding. If they think it is useful, that they will be able to employ the knowledge for some other end that they desire, then they'll try to gain it. Then there are the cases where we convince them that they'll sink if they don't put everything into it, we keep them in perpetual worry about being called on and humiliated if they do not know the answer.
The question is how effective this third approach is. No doubt it can be used successfully to accomplish a physical task, say moving a pile rocks, but what about when it is a cerebral matter? Is fear a successful motivator for learning?
- What's The Difference: Worry, Fear, And Anxiety
I was invited to sit in on a colleague's abnormal psychology class last week. No, I was not used as an exhibit. During the discussion, they were distinguishing between the ways in which mental health professionals use the words "worry,"...
- Quizzes And Paternalism
So, at this time of semester I give quizzes every class drilling the rules of inference and equivalences needed to do natural deduction proofs. It is the same quiz day after day after day. When a student asked why I do this, I was honest and said that...
- Other Than Grades
With the holidays last week, I wasn't able to answer several questions, so let's get to a few more of them this week. Jeff asks, "So the problems with the "grade model" of education are fairly obvious, and discussed before on this blog. The worry,...
- Fear, Love, And Experimental Philosophy
JMH asks, Why do people fear the unknown?Humans are amazing in this way. We will fight change even when it would benefit us. While I generally do not buy into a lot of the larger claims of evolutionary psychology, I do think that this is the fear of the...
- Homophobia And Anti-semitism
During the "ask any question, auto mechanics to quantum mechanics" section of class yesterday, a male student asked why other men were made uncomfortable by his conversing with them from a stall in the men's room. The discussion opened up to explain...