[MUSIC, Title: "Digging Deeper into Motivation"] [Barb] Zig Ziglar was one of the best-known salesmen of the 20th century. He was quick with a quip. One of his best-known quotes was, "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing. That's why we recommend it daily." I don't know about you, but I find I need at least a little motivation each day to boost me in my work—and students need it too. So, what IS motivation? [Terry] When you look at motivation from a neuroscientific perspective, it seems to involve two entirely different systems. One system motivates us TOWARD some type of behavior. This involves the brain's reward system, roughly shown here. As we mentioned earlier, some researchers call this the INTERROGATIVE system. This includes the ventral tegmental area, the substantia nigra, the nucleus accumbens, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. That was a mouthful. I have spent a lifetime studying these brain areas, so they are like my old friends. The second system involves pushing us AWAY from something. Researchers call this the IMPERATIVE system. This system involves tiny portions of the brain— one called the habenula, and the other called the amygdala. To keep things simple, let's focus on the amygdala. The amygdala is small, about the size and shape of an almond. But it packs a mighty punch— and that punch can take the wind out of you. [Beth] An example of anti-rewards, that is, imperative system demands, is given by Miss Guided's classroom. Remember how she motivated her students by yelling at them? The motivation DID work, but at the same time, Miss Guided herself began to be associated in her students' minds with negative thoughts and feelings. Not a very good way to inspire students to like learning or school! And the motivation she WAS providing involved anti-rewards, growing in part from fear and dislike in the amygdala. Anti-rewards aren't all bad, however, as we'll see later. Part of the reason games can be so successful and also successful in helping us to learn is that they steer us towards rewards and away from anti-rewards, like having pets that get sad, plants that dry out or losing on a long streak of consecutive days. Previous research, not based on neuroscience, has pointed toward intrinsic— that is INTERNAL motivation— as being superior to externally rewarded motivation. This seems to just plain be common sense. But as the uncommon sense teacher that you are, you probably already have a feeling that there's a problem with this common-sense approach. And indeed, neuroscience has shown that thinking about rewards in terms of "internal" and "external" just doesn't accord with how the brain works. In fact, a reward is anything a person perceives as positive, whether it's an object, an action, or an internal feeling. Rewarding a student with a compliment, a badge, some bonus points, becoming the class leader, being the first in line, or getting a free homework pass can all have the same effect: boosting a student's desire to accomplish a certain goal. [Terry] For example, here's what happens when we get a positive reward, like feeling good that we've mastered a math problem, or that we've helped a friend. This activates our reward regions. Now, what happens when we get an extrinsic reward such as a tasty treat or money? Guess what? Exactly the same reward regions become activated! Interrogative motivation is the type of motivation that arises because we WANT to do something rather than because we're being FORCED to do something. This type of motivation accompanies the ongoing tonic release of dopamine, that is, dopamine that dribbles out continuously. In contrast, the pulsed, or phasic, dopamine release is what marks an unexpectedly rewarding event. Tonic dopamine is like the background music in a grocery store. Low tonic dopamine is like slow and low music, we move sluggishly without much motivation. But with high tonic dopamine levels, we become energetic, like when the music is pumped up high and we are ready to dance through the aisles and buy, buy, buy! When there is more tonic dopamine, we have more desire to do things. When we have less dopamine, we have less desire to do things. This is why people whose dopamine neurons are damaged or destroyed, as with Parkinson's patients, can find themselves with little or no motivation at all, not even wanting to move. This was the subject of a movie called "Awakenings," a true story of giving a drug to enhance dopamine activity to patients whose dopamine levels were so low that they were in a catatonic state, a complete absence of movements. The drug, called L-DOPA, brought them back to virtually complete normalcy, at least temporarily. L-DOPA is still used as a frontline treatment for Parkinson's disease. [Barb] We can change our motivation for certain activities by changing dopamine levels through rewards. Here's a real life example involving my younger daughter. Early on she wasn't a big reader. In fact, she was not into reading at all. So, my husband and I gave her a small financial incentive whenever she read a book. She started reading books— more and more of them. Here's what was going on. Initially, it took a big effort for her to read a book, but she got what she thought of as a big reward for doing so. You can think of our external reward as boosting our daughter's dopamine levels in relation to reading. Now, according to some theories related to incentives, once we stop paying her, my daughter should have stopped reading books. But guess what? By the time we stopped the incentive, she discovered that she liked reading books and she'd gotten enough practice by then that reading books came more easily and was more enjoyable for her. You can think of rewards this way. You can either figure out some way, either externally or internally, to get a student to be inclined to aim at a reward. You can also find a way to make the challenge less difficult. For example, by scaffolding the material by breaking it up into smaller chunks, or allowing the student to practice with varying aspects of the material. Incidentally, later, we'll learn that practice and prior knowledge relates to the development of a neural schema. That is a structure for learning that makes it easier to hang new learning on. [MUSIC, Title: "Ideas for Increasing Motivation and Feelings of Reward"] [Barb] Cognitive psychologist Daniel Levy and his colleagues have been working to place the study of motivation on a solid neuroscientific foundation. The upshot of their work is that gamification is one of the best ways to bring interrogative motivation into learning. How's that? Both traditional schools as well as gamified systems give points as rewards on tests, but gamified systems allow a student to simply press reset and try again. This helps reduce the pain of a low score and keeps students on the interrogative pathway of explorative learning. Badges provide visual representations of achievements, which help with reward system prompts. Dr. Levy perhaps sums things up best for us when he concludes gamification encourages inquiry, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas while avoiding unwanted stress that affects students' abilities—unlike other teaching tools, such as high stakes tests. Games also contribute to the enjoyment of learning and allow students to experiment and make mistakes. [Beth] So what are good ways to lower that initial barrier toward learning and increase dopamine levels? Look for ways to gamify learning for your students. And don't be shy about using tangible rewards to get a student going. Here are a few ideas— we'll discuss more in later videos. When my students advanced levels as they worked through an educational software program, they would raise their hand, and I would put their name on a post-it star that I would post around the classroom on walls, on doors, window sills. It was highly motivating for students to see the stickers they earned being posted. I would scatter them around the classroom. It was hard to pinpoint how many post-its any particular student had collected. But you better believe they kept track of their post-its. If you're a parent, small rewards that can vary day-by-day can work well: A trip to the park or even a little time with a beloved video game. Remember, learning is a day-by-day thing. You might not feel like a superhero with the tiny gains that your child is making each day. But be a good cheer! Remember Barb's younger daughter, who disliked math growing up? All those days of finding ways to reward, cajole and yes, a bit of Barb's occasional brow beating when it came to math paid off. Rachel loves math so much that she's now a professional statistician! We teachers can help our students learn to reframe what they're doing to boost their dopamine levels. After all, students don't just walk into my classes thinking, "I can't wait to write an essay." So, I sell them on the idea that writing is the best, and easiest thing ever through my enthusiasm, and by breaking the writing process into small, achievable steps. With students who are finding writing to be a particular struggle, I find something to praise, and I joyfully announce it to the class. I can become almost over the top excited about what I'm teaching, and that enthusiasm is contagious. We teachers can also help build motivation by pretending to share a special secret. Or we can speak in such a way that students can begin imagining their own success. Keep in mind though, that there is rarely a magic bullet that will instantly turn on a student's motivation. So, here are a few more specific ideas to help your students raise their dopamine levels, and increase their motivation for learning: First, make a subject easier through practice, and interesting explanations. This relates to reducing cognitive load, and as we'll learn later, helps with the development of schemas. Second, share passionate excitement about a topic. Emotions after all are contagious. And simple physical activities that gets students' blood pounding- For example, games where they race to the board to fill in new words they're learning in their Spanish class- can help amp-up student excitement levels as well as help them bond. Third, give ideas for how to reframe the topic to make it seem more palatable. Remind students of long-term rewards as you set, achieve, and celebrate (with a high-five or unexpected recognition) accomplishing those short-term intermediate goals. Fourth, elicit student curiosity— create a sense of intrigue. [Fifth], establish a sense of shared accountability. Reward teams as well as individuals, for example, for their expertise in problem-solving. [Sixth], use gamification wherever possible to promote mastery learning, rather than simply learning through quizzes and tests. You'll learn more about that in our next course in the specialization on online learning. Keep in mind that much as we would love it to be, all learning isn't always fun. As we mentioned in our first "Uncommon Sense Teaching Course," learning to ride a bicycle, for example, can involve lots of scrapes and bruises as students work toward mastery. [Barb] But here's perhaps the most important thing when it comes to motivation. When we do something often enough for a reward, there comes a point where the brain switches to a completely different mechanism. It doesn't need the reward anymore, because what you're doing has become a habit. That's what we'll be learning more about in the weeks to come. Because the power of habit, as it turns out, is one of the most powerful forces we have to help propel our learning and our behavior. But first, we'll stop to visit with a very special type of student: a type that is impossible to motivate. [Beth] I'm Beth Rogowsky. [Barb] I'm Barb Oakley. [Terry] I'm Terry Sejnowski. [All] Learn it, link it, let's do it!
