| s-1
| 2.2 The Motivated Learner |
| s-2
| Questions to consider: |
| s-3
| How do different types of motivation affect my learning? |
| s-4
| What is resilience and grit? |
| s-5
| How can I apply the Uses and Gratification Theory to make decisions about my learning? |
| s-6
| How do I prevent negative bias from hindering learning? |
| s-7
| In this section, you will continue to increase your ability as an informed learner. |
| s-8
| Here you will explore how much of an influence motivation has on learning, as well as how to use motivation to purposefully take an active role in any learning activity. |
| s-9
| Rather than passively attempting to absorb new information, you will learn how to make conscious decisions about the methods of learning you will use (based on what you intend to do with the information), how you will select and use learning materials that are appropriate for your needs, and how persistent you will be in the learning activity. |
| s-10
| There are three main motivation concepts that have been found to directly relate to learning. |
| s-11
| Each of these has been proven to mean the difference between success and failure. |
| s-12
| You will find that each of these is a strong tool that will enable you to engage with learning material in a way that not only suits your needs, but also gives you ownership over your own learning processes. |
| s-13
| Resilience and Grit |
| s-14
| While much of this chapter will cover very specific aspects about the act of learning, in this section, we will present different information that may at first seem unrelated. |
| s-15
| Some people would consider it more of a personal outlook than a learning practice, and yet it has a significant influence on the ability to learn. |
| s-16
| What we are talking about here is called grit or resilience. |
| s-17
| Grit can be defined as personal perseverance toward a task or goal. |
| s-18
| In learning, it can be thought of as a trait that drives a person to keep trying until they succeed. |
| s-19
| It is not tied to talent or ability, but is simply a tendency to not give up until something is finished or accomplished. |
| s-20
| Figure 2.3 |
| s-21
| U.S. Army veteran and captain of the U.S. Invictus team, Will Reynolds, races to the finish line. |
| s-22
| (Credit: DoD News / Flickr / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY 2.0)) |
| s-23
| The study showed that grit and perseverance were better predictors of academic success and achievement than talent or IQ. |
| s-24
| This personality trait was defined as “grit” by the psychologist Angela Duckworth. 1 |
| s-25
| In a 2007 study Duckworth and colleagues found that individuals with high grit were able to maintain motivation in learning tasks despite failures. |
| s-26
| The study examined a cross section of learning environments, such as GPA scores in Ivy League universities, dropout rates at West Point, rankings in the National Spelling Bee, and general educational attainment for adults. |
| s-27
| What the results showed was that grit and perseverance were better predictors of academic success and achievement than talent or IQ. |
| s-28
| Duckworth, A. L.; Peterson, C.; Matthews, M. D.; Kelly, D. R. (June 2007). 'Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals'. |
| s-29
| Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 92 (6): 1087–1101. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087. PMID 17547490. |
| s-30
| Applying Grit |
| s-31
| The concept of grit is an easy one to dismiss as something taken for granted. |
| s-32
| In our culture, we have a number of sayings and aphorisms that capture the essence of grit: “If at first you do not succeed, try, try again,” or the famous quote by Thomas Edison: “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” |
| s-33
| The problem is we all understand the concept, but actually applying it takes work. |
| s-34
| If the task we are trying to complete is a difficult one, it can take a lot of work. |
| s-35
| The first step in applying grit is to adopt an attitude that looks directly to the end goal as the only acceptable outcome. |
| s-36
| With this attitude comes an acceptance that you may not succeed on the first attempt — or the nineteenth attempt. |
| s-37
| Failed attempts are viewed as merely part of the process and seen as a very useful way to gain knowledge that moves you toward success. |
| s-38
| An example of this would be studying for an exam. |
| s-39
| In your first attempt at studying you simply reread the chapters of your textbook covered in the exam. |
| s-40
| You find that while this reinforces some of the knowledge you have gained, it does not ensure you have all the information you will need to do well on the test. |
| s-41
| You know that if you simply read the chapters yet again, there is no guarantee you are going to be any more successful. |
| s-42
| You determine that you need to find a different approach. |
| s-43
| In other words, your first attempt was not a complete failure, but it did not achieve the end goal, so you try again with a different method. |
| s-44
| On your second try, you copy down all of the main points onto a piece of paper using the section headlines from the chapters. |
| s-45
| After a short break you come back to your list and write down a summary of what you know about each item on your list. |
| s-46
| This accomplishes two things: first, you are able to immediately spot areas where you need to learn more, and second, you can check your summaries against the text to make certain what you know is correct and adequate. |
| s-47
| In this example, while you may not have yet achieved complete success, you will have learned what you need to do next. |
| s-48
| In true grit fashion, for your next try, you study those items on your list where you found you needed a bit more information, and then you go through your list again. |
| s-49
| This time you are able to write down summaries of all the important points, and you are confident you have the knowledge you need to do well on the exam. |
| s-50
| After this, you still do not stop, but instead you change your approach to use other methods that keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. |