Title: Motivation in k-12 Children with challenging home environments and relationships
Author Name: Courtney Ward
- Introduction
This chapter will examine how children in K-12 environments are set up with the ability to learn and master materials and tasks, how a lack of basic needs influences learning ability, and how motivation is maintained or dwindles for children in certain socio-economic classes.
Motivational factors can vary wildly based on a broad spectrum of needs, interests, and experiences. What tends to hold true is that motivation can be cultivated by relationships, external factors, and internal factors. The internal driver is known as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is propelled by an internal pleasure of completing an activity or gaining knowledge (Reiser, Dempsey 2018). Often, intrinsic motivation requires that basic human needs are met before long-term, meaningful learning can only occur in areas that might equate to self-actualization or achievement of ones full potential such as through non-essential learning (Burton, 2012). This means that children who are faced with the potential for non-traditional living environments including but not limited to insecure shelter, inconsistent meals, and a lack of safety may not have the ability to learn and acquire knowledge in the same way as children who are not faced with those challenges. In turn this would have an impact on their motivation.
A basic understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is also required in order to step into the topic of learning motivation. This psychological principle establishes that humans must meet a foundational level of needs in order to be motivated to do more (Burton, 2012). Learning non-basic skills is not an essential part of life. Here essential is meant to include skills such as walking, speaking, and feeding oneself (McLeod, 2020). These would be items found closer to the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. Non-basic skills are meant to include creative arts such as story writing, reading or watching culturally significant media which would be toward the top of Maslow’s pyramid. (McLeod, 2020)
- Overview of the Case
The setting is the k-12 learning environment with a specific emphasis on the elementary school years k-5. Research was conducted on the years leading up to kindergarten in order to develop a strong foundation of the many influencing factors of learners in this age range (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019).
Parental involvement in motivation and skill mastery is an important component (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019). At this age or level of learning, studies on parental involvement and teacher relationships are important because the parent(s) directly influence and often create the home environment which, in turn, impacts how students perform in the school environment and interact with teachers (Birch & Ladd, 1997). Heatly & Votruba-Drzal’s study shows that students who are in a secure home environment tend to perform better from an academic perspective.
In the study conducted by Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, the relationship between children, parents, and teachers is examined. This study specifically targets children in first, third, and fifth grade. It looks to determine how those relationships impact motivation once the students reach fifth grade. Fifth grade was chosen as a marker because it is a, “particularly sensitive developmental period.” (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019). Self-determination theory is the primary driver of this study. Self-determination theory establishes that one must have a strong sense of self and connection with the environment in order to be motivated and engaged (Ryan & Deci, 2015). In this context, environment is the community, home, and classroom.
In a separate study conducted by Wen Wang, Claire Vallotton, and Ryan Bowles, low-income children are examined at a younger age – the years leading up to kindergarten. This study aims to establish a connection between socio-economic class, family life, and a child’s mastery motivation. Mastery motivation is defined as, “an individual’s drive to master and influence the environment and overcome challenges. “ (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020). This study also uses Self-Determination theory as a foundation but in a slightly different way. Whether than examining how a combination of relationships results in broad intrinsic motivation, it looks, specifically, at how intrinsic motivation is developed through the parents methods of, “promoting the child’s feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. (Ryan & Deci, 2000).” Parent behavior was evaluated in three areas – autonomy supportive- ness, cognitive stimulation, and intrusiveness. Cited studies previously examined the importance of parental intrusiveness on the motivation of the child and resulted in mixed findings thus Wang et al combined multiple factors with the aim of having more conclusive results. Child responses were evaluated in two areas- persistence and frustration. The parental behavior areas would either negatively or positively influence persistence or the interest to keep tackling a problem, and frustration, a heightened, emotional response to the problem. Both persistence and frustration were directly linked to future academic success (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020).
- Solutions Implemented
A takeaway from these studies is how to best control for, decrease and potentially eliminate feelings of inadequacy that lead to lowered motivation for children within the elementary school age range. The general consensus among both of these studies is that children of all demographics require a supportive environment from infancy through grade school in order to develop intrinsic motivation to start, continue, and complete a complex academic or behavioral task.
If we were to only use these two publications as sources, it would be clear that children should be given opportunities for positive interactions and relationships with both parents and teachers who allow for a high to moderate amount of autonomy, high cognitive stimulation, and relatively low intrusiveness. These opportunities would need to be available beginning at infancy. Instruction would need to be offered in a classroom where attention was given to a limited class size, the number of years of teaching experience attained by the teacher, and the quality of the lesson. All of this would then lead to well-developed self-determination only if the child was raised in a home where parents have established and stabilized life factors including income, marital status, and maternal age (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019). For non-White students, the cultural influence of their African-American or Hispanic communities and parenting behaviors would also need to be considered. This consideration is necessary because variability exists when establishing the highest possible level of self-determination, persistence, lack of frustration, and mastery motivation.
- Outcomes
Each study enumerates their own areas for growth while acknowledging the importance of their outcomes. On the question on how the relationships between teachers, parents and students impact motivation, researchers found that the size of the data set and the methodology allowed for reliable results. The emphasis on relationship building during pivotal periods of academic and behavioral growth culminating in the final year of elementary school gave levity to the study (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019). There is some room for further investigation into how reciprocal relationships might influence the results. Researchers cite the possibility that students may have initiated positive or negative relationships based on their past experiences and received the same in response.
The study which examined cultural aspects of parental influence on motivation acknowledged the importance of examining how parenting in African-American and Hispanic families differed from parenting in White families. The difference was so significant that the categories used to determine the metrics for persistence in White children could not accurately reflect the same in African-American or Hispanic children (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020). Further research could be done on families who live in a deeper level of poverty and who could not access the tools used to measure persistence and frustration in the children.
Both studies offered a unique perspective on motivation in children and together provided a relatively well-round view of what family and community behaviors facilitate strong mastery motivation in a k-12 environment for both nondistinctive socio-economic conditions and for impoverished conditions. The Wang et al study may have been improved by digging further into variations within the impoverished families. Details around living condition, parent availability in the home, general access to support with academics, and the perceived safety of the home and community are all factors that might influence the implications of the study.
While the same suggestions can be applied to the Castle et al study, it was not specifically targeting a socio-economic group. As such, it might be strengthened by examining the reasons behind certain engagements of relationships such by surveying teachers to determine how or if relationships evolved throughout a school year and what efforts were being made to improve those if any. Relatedly, if there was a measurable change in the perceived motivation and engagement as those relationships improved over time.
- Implications
It was found that children with “warmer and more supportive parents and teachers” had higher levels of engagement and motivation both behaviorally and academically (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019). On the other end, students who were in “conflictual relationships” were less likely to exhibit traits that lead to behavioral and academic success. (Heatly & Votruba-Drzal, 2019).
Wang found that parenting behaviors in the three areas varied significantly between White and Non-White parents. Between African-American and Hispanic households the behaviors were varied but to a lesser exist (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020). This was determined by categorizing the parents as supportive (high autonomy support, high cognitive stimulation, and low intrusiveness), or directive (low autonomy support, low cognitive stimulation, and high intrusiveness). Non-white families needed more categories due to the variability in results. African- American families were moderately supportive (mixed across areas), restrained (low in all areas), and very supportive (high in all areas) were added to the aforementioned categories. Hispanic families were categorized as engaged (moderate in all areas), restrained, supportive, and very directive (low autonomy, low cognitive, and high intrusiveness) (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020).
Levels of persistence were highest for White children with parents who behaved in a supportive style. African-American and Hispanic children with parents with a very supportive style showed higher levels of persistence. Frustration generally fell along the same lines. It varied marginally in children of parents who used a restrained behavior style (Wang, Vallotton, Bowles, 2020).
References
Heatly, M. C., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2019). Developmental precursors of engagement and motivation in fifth grade: Linkages with parent- and teacher-child relationships. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 60, 144–156. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2018.09.003
Wang, W., Vallotton, C. D., & Bowles, R. P. (2020). Ethnic variances in socializing young children’s mastery motivation among White, African American, and Hispanic low-income families. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 329–337. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.12.012
Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2015).Self-Determination Theory. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.), 486-491. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26036-4
Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and children’s early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychology, 35, 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0022-4405(96)00029-5.
Burton, N. (2012, May 23). Our Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/our-hierarchy-needs
Mcleod, S. (2020, March 20). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved April 24, 2020, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html