~Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Results~

Students frequently battle issues of motivation and procrastination when it comes to schoolwork. Schoolchildren report that they have no impetus to get them to care about their assignments or in-class participation. While “getting good grades” is the reward for hard work, it is often not reason enough to keep kids engaged and truly learning. What is lacking is intrinsic motivation. Using other mechanisms to bribe students into paying attention is not the answer. Students should want to learn; they should want do their work. However much of a stretch this may seem, it can be achieved within the classroom walls. It all starts by presenting the material in an inspiring and relatable way, and then proceeding by teaching students that they have ownership over their own education while still pushing them to expand their boundaries. Utilizing many of the integral aspects of the Constructivist Learning Theory, Kids Are Dramatic boosts intrinsic motivation and shows students that they are in control of their academic careers.         

The Constructivist Learning Theory coined the idea that the learner constructs knowledge for himself (or herself) by building a personal schema. This schema is based on the learner’s individual and socially-based learning of the world around himself or herself. Some of the ideas included in this theory define learning as an active process, which takes shape contextually. “We learn in relationship to what else we know, what we believe, our prejudices and our fears,” not passively accept “knowledge which exists “out there” but that learning involves the learning’s engaging with the world (Hein, 1991).” Learners gain knowledge by taking new information and fitting it into a system of meaning; they also learn by constructing a system of meaning out of the new information itself. A new skill or concept is sure to be understood when the learner can transfer that knowledge into a series of various contexts. The idea of transfer is not new to the world of education, however ideas of how to approach and incite it are. “For transfer to happen, research suggests an individual must recognize the wide applicability of a particular skill, principle, or concept and when a particular situation calls for the use of them (Kuhn, 1986).” One tactic for transfer is to ensure that teachers show an eventual implication or connection of the material outside the classroom. Kids Are Dramatic’s plays, especially the current production titled The Pinballs, are centered on topics which are prevalent in our society, yet they do not always find a way into classroom curriculums (foster care, in this case). Furthermore, transfer is induced by making students apply their thinking and knowledge into as many contexts as they can. This is where the art of theatre can be utilized for the act of transferring. As mentioned in the Theatre is Crucial for Critical Thinking post, actors and actresses—over the course of being in several productions—are challenged to consider similar themes and concepts (such as love, heartbreak, friendship, loss, etc.) through a myriad of different emotions and character perceptions. This kind of practice helps to form well-rounded schemas, and it also challenges the students’ perception on how just one situation can be perceived. While this describes transfer in itself, other skills that must be mastered in theatre, including comfort on stage, memorization, portrayal of potentially inexperienced emotions, practice of empathy and teamwork, as well as the art of acting itself, are all skills that can be utilized in everyday life. In order for children to make the most out of what they are learning, it is imperative that they know how what they are learning is relative to their lives and that they are able to take notice of its effects. When students become cognizant of transfer occurring within themselves, and they are aware of utilizing knowledge acquired in school in outside contexts, they being to see the effects of their hard work coming into fruition. Making a connection between hard work and positive effects is a realization which motivates students to look for more ways in which the material they are already learning can be applied to their daily lives. After all, students are learning for their own benefit. If they do not realize this, the greatest wrongdoing is on the part of their educators.

The most important part of the beneficial aspects of theatre, however, is that the actors and actresses—ordinary students—are able to connect with their art and their work. This emotional connection creates a personal drive for students to better themselves, and it directly ties the effort put in by the individual to his or her work and actions. In experiments conducted by Karen DeMoss and Terry Morris, it was found that “students took more responsibility for their learning in their arts units than their non-arts units…students found the arts to bring enjoyment to their learning irrespective of their teacher’s personal style” (DeMoss, Morris, 2002). The added pressure of being on stage for one or two final performances also emphasizes the importance of enthusiasm, energy, and a direct evaluation of talent. The findings in the study conducted “suggest that the arts can play a critical role in the general culture of children’s learning, providing more positive and meaningful connections with academic work, connections that may have ancillary effects on long-term motivation” (DeMoss, Morris, 2002). Theatre embodies all of these aspects as fuel towards students’ intrinsic motivation. Kids Are Dramatic provides students with a safe environment where they are given freedom and opportunity to explore and be constructively critiqued to improve their talents. Because this is an optional, after-school program—though it does demand responsibility and time once committed—the participating actors and actresses choose to take ownership of their time and talent. This is an initial decision, which will prove fruitful in their academic and general achievements. Self-sufficient, intrinsically motivated learners have always been the goal for the education system, and the solution is plain as day: show students how to find these objectives within themselves.