Changes in At-Risk Boys’ Intrinsic Motivation Toward Physical Activity: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study

Intrinsic motivation (IM) is an important predictor of children’s physical activity participation. The present 3-year longitudinal study examined changes in IM toward physical activity among a group of at-risk boys (N = 92) at a summer sports camp. Results showed the boys were intrinsically motivated in their first camp year, but their IM levels declined throughout 3 years of participation. This decline might be due to insufficient instructor support and repetitively scheduled activities at the camp. There were no ethnic differences in the initial IM mean scores or rates of IM change. Such homogeneity might be attributable to the boys’ similar demographic characteristics. Future research should identify possible causes of declined IM for camp coordinators and instructors to better design and implement sports and physical activities to sustain the boys’ IM.     

Effects of formative feedback on intrinsic motivation: Examining ethnic differences

In this study we investigate the influence of ethnic differences on student motivation when learning from formative feedback. Interpersonal teacher behavior and student motivational needs are used to explain the effects of assessment for learning on intrinsic motivation by comparing students from different ethnic backgrounds. The final study's sample consisted of 558 students from Dutch secondary vocational education. Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to test possible models. Our findings show that modes of feedback (monitoring, scaffolding) and teacher interpersonal behavior are strongly related to predictors of student motivation. In line with self-determination theory, our findings indicated that competence and relatedness mediate the effect of feedback (both monitoring and scaffolding) on motivation. Multi-group analyses showed only small differences for ethnicity, especially in relation to mode of feedback, which led us to conclude that, irrespective of the “Immigrant Paradox”, assessment for learning may facilitate feedback provision for both immigrant and native Dutch students indiscriminately, thereby enhancing motivation to learn. Implications of these findings for learning in classrooms are discussed.     

An audience response system may influence student performance on anatomy examination questions

This study integrated an in-house audience response system (ARS) in the human anatomy course over two years to determine whether students performed better on high-stakes examinations following exposure to similar interactive questions in a large lecture format. Questions in an interactive ARS format were presented in lectures via PowerPoint presentations. Students who chose to participate in the anonymous ARS sessions submitted answers via their personal wireless devices (e.g., laptops, smartphones, PDAs, etc). Students were surveyed for feedback. Student participation in ARS activities was greatest (65-80%) in the first lecture. The number of students who actively participated in ARS activities decreased over the next four sessions, and then slightly increased in the last two sessions. This trend was the same for both years. Use of the ARS did not dramatically enhance overall student performance on examination questions that dealt with content similar to content presented in the ARS sessions. However, students who scored in the lower quartile of the examination performed better on the examination questions after the ARS was implemented. Accordingly, our findings suggest that the effect of ARS to improve student performance on examinations was not uniform. The overall benefit of an ARS to enhance the lecture experience was confirmed by student surveys.     

Empathy,Experience and SMSC (Spiritual,Moral, Social and Cultural Education)

Having commented on the developments in PSE and SMSC [Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education] Ron Best suggests that the motivation for these has been more political than child centred. He is particularly critical of the trend towards specifying learning outcomes as matrices, which he characterizes as the kind of bureaucratization which dehumanizes an essentially human activity. He argues that we need to start with experience and that empathy, though currently undervalued, should be a key dimension of this. The meaning of empathy is then elaborated and in conclusion the case for its central importance presented.