Keeping Students Motivated Using Future Rewards

Periodically remind students that their mental effort is relevant to pleasure in the near future. The younger the children, the less tolerant their brains are to activities that are not pleasurable now or expected to be so in the very near future. Fortunately, the dopamine-reward network releases motivating dopamine in expectation of pleasure. Let students know which of their enjoyable math activities will be coming up during the lesson and how what they are practicing now connects to the desirable activity. Th e dopamine release gives you the time you need to work with students on procedures and facts that must be understood for them to build a math foundation, such as multiplication tables or place-value names.

Notes:

Folksonomies: teaching motivation

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 Learning to Love Math
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Willis, Judy (2010), Learning to Love Math, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, Retrieved on 2016-09-02
Folksonomies: education games math