Learning and Motivation to Learn

I’ve been thinking about the issue of motivation and lack-of-motivation and discussing it with bachelor in educational sciences students over the last years… and I’ve always had the impression that we tend to assume that kids who don’t learn (to do) certain things at school don’t *want* to learn. Maybe they don’t want to learn these things and would want (and do want) to learn other things (those that school is notoriously not very keen of)… I do think that no kid is unwilling to learn anything… they all want to learn (to do) some things… and today, by chance, I found a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon that nicely illustrates this tendency to be willing to learn certain things that adults would not even recognize as learning or as interesting-to-learn skills.

Calvin, in the comic below, says that the only skills he has the patience to learn are those that are basically “useless”… Somehow he’s not so far off compared to many things we are taught at school… 🙂 where the usefulness is sometimes very hidden… we just learn about facts that do not connect with “real life” and learn to master certain skills and procedures that we cannot see how to use in order to solve “real problems”…

Thanks to Stéphanie for having the cartoon on her webpage: http://www.ginhac-family.com/steph/

About me

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Luxembourg in the field of learning and teaching sciences. My PhD thesis was in cognitive psychology, focusing on implicit learning processes. I have always been interested in the integration of ICT in education, especially the strategic use of technology in teaching. With the advent of the digital revolution, I became interested in exploring the socio-cultural changes in learning caused by the use of digital technologies.

My current research focuses on the subjective theories of learning held by teachers and how these influence their use of ICT in the classroom. I am particularly interested in identifying factors that enable or hinder the use of ICT in teaching, and how these factors can be addressed.

Throughout my career, I have worked extensively as a teacher trainer in the field of educational technologies. I have experience with various forms of active pedagogy approaches, including problem-based, project-based, and design-research approaches. My goal is to help teachers integrate technology into their teaching practice in a way that enhances student learning and engagement.

2 Feedbacks on “Learning and Motivation to Learn”

Le Dude says:

November 10, 2009 at 12:47 PM

Quite so; I cannot help but feel that a large chunk of educational curriculum is presented at the wrong time in youngsters’ development. The most obvious one being language learning starting at 10 or 12.
bob.reuter says:

November 15, 2009 at 11:47 AM

Le Dude, I do not really agree that language learning starts at 10 or 12 in schools… at least not in Luxembourg… you may have meant, that some specific languages are “taught” later than others, and that it may be more efficient to start earlier with all of them… Do I get you right or wrong?

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