Motivating students with live-event learning

Kappa Delta Pi Record, Spring 2003 by Barkley, Stephen G

Although incorporating real-life experiences into teaching can be challenging, live events are worth the effort. Both students and teachers are motivated when learning is relevant, meaningful, and fun.

The Connecticut high school building, where I was addressing a group of teachers, overlooked the school's running track. To make a point about how students could learn essential skills and subject matter experientially-- from live events-I referred to the uneven running track visible from the window. A large puddle in one location made my case.

Without asking for input, I proceeded to outline how the high school students could make a reallife learning connection by working toward a project of leveling the running track. First, they would measure the slope and angle of the track, using science, math, and physics. Next, they would write a Request for Proposal (RFP) and negotiate with contractors. After students had all their information collected, they would make a presentation to the Board of Education for funding, or possibly work on a fund-raising event at the school. Some students might even decide to respond to the RFP themselves, requiring them to develop a resume outlining their skills.

I went on in this vein until one teacher finally couldn't stand it any longer and interrupted my excited notions. "Hold on, Steve," she said emphatically. "Our students are not allowed out of the building during school hours. It's school policy. None of this could be done."

Incorporating real-life learning experiences into a classroom setting can be tricky. Yet the value so outweighs the challenge that it merits an effort. Teaching with live events not only motivates students-because the learning is relevant, meaningful, and fun-but also can motivate teachers when textbooks become tiresome.

Hierarchy of Motivators

Glasser (1998) made the case that people-both in the workplace and at school-have an emotionally linked reason that motivates or drives them to want to learn, commit information to longterm memory, and recall it later. He places these reasons in the following hierarchy of motivators:

* Survival. Students have basic physiological needs (food, shelter, and physical safety). They also need psychological or emotional safety-to be in a supportive environment without fear of bodily harm, mental or physical intimidation, or abuse. A student who does not have enough food to eat cannot think or concentrate and is motivated only to satisfy hunger.

* Belonging. Students have a keen need to belong and be accepted. They want to do what their peers do and fit into a group, clique, and the school environment. No one likes to feel "left out." Belonging is a compelling motivator.

* Power. Having a say in what happens-being in control-gives people personal power, which helps them develop personal identities and feel capable. When students or teachers feel that they can control how they work or learn and that they have some power and respect, they can operate the way they think best. This is highly motivating and leads to greater accomplishment and productivity.

* Freedom. Freedom means making one's own choices about life's direction and accepting responsibilities on a daily and longterm basis. Students can select what classes they take or decide how to present their homework (in a song, report, or drawing). Being free is motivating and opens the way for tremendous achievement.

* Fun. People must be stimulated by meaningful activities that include lively, joyous play and amusement. Under brain scanning devices, such as MRIs, the amygdala (the section of the brain governing emotions) becomes activated when a person is learning (Jensen 1995). Fun makes the brain come alive.

When all your basic needs have been met, you've "survived," you have a sense that you belong, you have power and freedom, and you have fun. People who have fun no longer feel what they are doing is "work." It's just something they really want to do. How do you motivate students to have fun at school? By providing them with the solidity of survival, belonging, power, and freedom. And one way to do that is to introduce live, meaningful lessons that rely on the real world, on live events.

Live-Event Learning

What's needed is to incorporate more power, freedom, and fun into lesson plans that are real events, because the real environment has richness, depth, meaning, color, and texture. According to Kovalik and Olsen (1994, 77), "An enriched environment is one which awakens the entire nervous system, one which is stimulating, curiosity feeding, capable of answering many questions and engendering more, a setting which is alive with resources, reflective of real life."

Live-event lessons rely on the real environment to impart content knowledge and process skills. Students see a reason for doing a project beyond receiving a grade. To connect to the real world, leaving school is not necessary. To a student, school is the real world, and it abounds with opportunities for relevant learning experiences.