Dan Pink shares some very interesting thoughts and research about motivation. Even though he focuses his discussion on adult performance, there is plenty to think about in regards to teaching and working with children.
He disputes the idea that people are motivated through a system of rewards and punishments. His research reveals that this approach does not work. He has found that the old system of rewarding to get more of the behavior you want and punishing to get less of it does not work.
After watching his speech (and cartoon), it made me reflect on how I motivate and manipulate my students. Am I really getting the results I want? I have seen children push themselves hard to receive a handful of Jolly Ranchers, but Dan Pink makes me wonder if these students were working to their full potential and gaining any long term learning or enduring understandings.
The animated speech by Dan Pink about motivation and drive (the hook, 10 minutes)
The complete speech by Dan Pink about motivation and drive (no animation, 41 minutes)
These videos tap into ideas about motivation, creativity, and the learning/working environment that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’m working on a longer entry dealing with this topic (focusing on companies like Google and Pixar) - more on that later this summer.
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