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What roles do fun and joy play in the learning process?

By: Felicia Carroll

Do you know that fun and joy in the classroom can motivate students to learn more effectively and enhance learning? Enjoying your students and having fun with them is important to strengthen their development. While children constantly explore and experiment, a fun and exciting learning environment enhances learning. Making learning fun can minimize behavioral problems and energize students to become more effective learners.

According to Harris (1991) the best way to motivate students and make learning fun is to reward, explain, satisfy student needs, make learning visual, teach inductively, have students participate, care and use positive emotions to enhance learning and remember that energy sells. Reward: correct answers and good behavior, its okay to give out happy faces. Nahomy Dancy, Kindergarten Teacher at Dumfries Elementary believes that positive reinforcement challenges students to be more creative. Dancy says that she loves to use rewards, “they are great ways to keep students excited about learning”. Everyone likes the feeling of accomplishment and recognition; rewards for good work produce those good feelings.

Besides rewards, Harris says “the important point is that extrinsic motivators can, over a brief period of time, produce intrinsic motivation. A student who is intrinsically motivated undertakes an activity “for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes” (Leeper 1988). An extrinsically motivated student performs “in order to obtain some reward or avoid some punishment external to the activity itself,” such as grades, stickers, stamps, candy certificates, verbal praises or teacher approval (Leeper 1988). Whether the student is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, teachers should support the motivation to learn by making learning joyful and exciting. At the end of the day extrinsic motivators can, over time, produce intrinsic motivation.

Harris (1991) study found the following: Many students do poorly on assignments and participation because they do not know what to do or why they should do it. As a teacher you must be able to explain the importance of the assignments or activitives. Focus on what’s interesting and be enthusiastic about it. Your enthusiasm will rub off on the students and they will likely become interested. Verbally noting the purposes of specific tasks when introducing them to students will have a positive outcome (Brophy 1986). If teachers spend more time on explaining exactly what is expected on assignments and activities, student’s who are uncertain about what to do will seldom perform well.

Harris believe that attending to the need satisfaction is a primary method of keeping students interested and happy as well as providing better learning by attaching images to the ideas we want to convey. One of those needs is caring. Show students that you care. Students attend to adults who appears too be a real person. Students respond with interest and motivation to teachers who appear to be human and caring (Harris 1991). As teachers we need to nurture student’s natural curiosity about the world by welcoming their questions, encouraging exploration, and familiarizing them with resources that can enlarge their world. It is now your duty as an educator to give students the message that learning is fun, enjoyable and satisfying. If you can make learning fun, exciting, happy, loving, or perhaps even a bit frightening, students will learn more readily and the learning will last much longer. A fun environment allows us to think outside the box, take risk and have fun doing so, (Mickens).

Unfortunately, as children grow their passion for learning frequently seems to shrink. Learning often becomes associated with drudgery instead of delight (Lumsden 1994). According to Assistant Principle Maria Franzen in order to stop the shrinkage, “Educators must realize that fun and joy is not limited”. Fun and joy should be a big part of your instructional day or the motivation level of students will gradually cease. So do we agree with Harris, when he says that teachers should make learning visual, teach inductively and use positive emotions to enhance learning? I use visuals everyday in class to give students the opportunity to develop a mental framework or filing system that will help them to learn better and remember more. As a teacher you should be able to teach inductively and use positive emotions to enhance learning and motivation. Emotions can be created by classroom attitudes, by doing something unexpected or outrageous, by praise, and by many other means. The day you come to class with a bowl on your head and speak as an alien observer about humans will be a day and a lesson your students will remember. Don’t be afraid to embarrass yourself to make a memorable point (Harris 1991). Teaching inductively increase motivation and maintain interest. Start with examples, allow students to draw conclusions, generalize about them and make sense of them.

Awareness of how student’s attitudes and beliefs about learning develop and what facilitates learning for its own sake can assist educators in reducing student apathy. According to Brophy (1987), motivation to learn is a competence acquired “through general experience but stimulated most directly through modeling, communication of expectations and direct instruction or socialization by significant others especially teachers”. Research has also shown that good everyday teaching practices can do more to counter student apathy than special efforts to attack motivation directly (Ericksen, 1978). Most students respond positively to a well-organized course taught by an enthusiastic instructor who has a genuine interest in students and what they learn. Thus activities you undertake to promote learning will also enhance students' motivation.

In conclusion, we must understand that good everyday teaching practices can do more to counter student apathy than special efforts to attack motivation directly (Ericksen, 1978). Most students respond positively to a well-organized course taught by an enthusiastic instructor who has a genuine interest in students and what they learn. Thus activities you undertake to promote learning will also enhance students' motivation. Learning can be fun, exciting, sometimes thrilling, and highly emotional. Learning experiences should provide as much fun and or enjoyment as possible. The key factor is to remember that energy sells.

Sidebar

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.

Donald D. Quinn

Essay question

Does learning have to be fun or as educators should we stick to standards? Explain what factors influence your answer.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do teachers motivate their students?

A.Involve your students in your teaching. Ask for feedback.

B.Encourage students to share their ideas and comments, even if they are incorrect.

C.Put some excitement into your speech; vary your pitch, volume and rate.

D.All the above

2. Why are so many students physically present in the classroom but largely mentally absent?

A. Because they just want to get by smoothly

B. Because they fail to invest themselves fully in the experience of learning.

C. Because they see school as just something they have to do

D. None of the above

3. Activities are likely to have maximum impact when you…

A. engage students

B. introduce them in ways that clarify their purpose

C. introduce them as a professional and maintain your energy level

D. A and B

4. A student who is enjoys the fun in learning are more likely to …

A. believe learning is not apart of the real world

B. become easily discouraged

C. be very open -minded

D. be afraid to take on challenges

5. How does play influence learning?

A. It supports the development of the students’ language and social skills

B. Motivates and enhances learning

C. none of the above

D. all of the above

Sources

Brophy, Jere. On Motivating Students. Occasional Paper No. 101. East Lansing, Michigan: Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, October 1986. 73pages. ED 276724.

(Dancy, N. Kindergarten Teacher. Personal communication. September 20, 2006).

Ericksen, S.C. “The Lecture.” Memo to the Faculty, No 60. Ann Arbor: Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan, 1978. ( Franzen, M. Assistant Principle. Personal communication. September 20, 2006).

Harris, Robert. (1991, March). “Some Ideas for Motivating Students.” Virtual Salt. Retrieved September 18, 2006 from www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm.

Lepper, Mark R. “Motivational Considerations in the Study of Instruction.” Cognition and Instruction 5, 4 (1988):289-309

Lumsden, Linda. (1994, June). “Student Motivation to Learn. ERIC Digest, No 92. Retrieved September 18, 2006, from eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digest/digest 092.html (Mickens, Tasha Kindergarten Teacher. Personal communication. September 20, 2006). Answers

1. D 2. B 3. D 4. C 5. D