Afrodita Fuentes
SED 625SC
12/06/06
Issue Paper
Sparking Student Motivation in School, Especially the Sciences such
as Biology
The Issue
After teaching for six years, I find myself puzzled about the number of students who fail
biology and many other classes. Many students settle for the lowest passing grade they can get.
Some of these students have the skills and abilities to be successful in school but for some reason
they lack motivation to learn and earn good grades. It is very frustrating to see those students
waste their time and others’ time when they become disruptive in class. Other students have
many factors working against them. I am afraid many students end up dropping out of school
because of the difficulty and fear they experience with classes, especially the sciences. Every
semester, I am saddened to know that many of my students claim to “hate science” because it “is
too hard,” “has no use,” and because “Latinos are not good at it”. Perhaps their many unhealthy
experiences in the classroom, the school, and the community have led them to feel helpless and
unmotivated to give science a chance. To be more specific, there are many factors that
contribute to this lack of motivation in my students, including unhealthy experiences in science
classes, lack of role models in their homes and neighborhoods, lack of space to study at home,
full time jobs in addition to school, unstable homes, lack of parental care and support, etc. I
cannot do much about many of these factors, but I can help students understand the connection
of good work and sacrifice now that will lead to better and productive lives in the future.
My Goal
I have used a few strategies to motivate students such as building a comfortable and
friendly classroom by getting to know them, displaying their work, highlighting their success in
class, communicating with parents, etc. In my SLC of over 250 students, last year, I started
preparing a personalized 4-year graduation plan for each student. Looking at my own plan when
I was in college kept me focused and determined (especially during difficult times) to graduate
from college. I was very fortunate to find one person who sat and created that plan with me, so
now I want to do the same for my students. One of my goals is for each student to understand
what classes he needs to take to graduate from high school and go to college; how long it will
take, and what the consequences will be if he fails to follow the plan. Most SLC members
understood that this is a necessity. This year everyone is on board with the plan, which is helpful
because having almost 400 students would be impossible for me to meet with each one of them
in addition to my teaching load. At the beginning of the year, I prepared the necessary materials
and trained teachers to meet with every student in their homeroom to prepare a 4-year graduation
plan. For students to keep seeing that plan, for my homeroom I made three copies of that plan;
one for students to display at home where they can see all the time, another for them to carry
with them, and one for my records. When our SLC students met with counselors to schedule
classes for next semester, the counselors were impressed with our students’ knowledge and
confidence in classes they need to take. Our students are taking control of their own education.
My vision for every student is to have a goal (graduation) and a clear path to reach that goal.
Once they have that, it will be easier for them to work around hardships they face everyday and
that are out of their control. Perhaps then they can focus on their science classes, but it would be
nice to provide them with the tools to tackle those difficult science classes that everyone wants to
avoid. And it would be fantastic to spark more interest for the sciences, which is actually my
ultimate unspoken goal.
So my immediate goal is to develop a systematic approach to reach a satisfactory degree
of success in motivating students in my biology classes. I should be able to see improvements in
the next two years, the two years of the master program. The improvements that I long to see
include, decreased failure rate, higher enrollment in AP Biology, more interest in science and
health careers, etc. This approach needs to include a number of well defined and practical
strategies for immediate use.
RESEARCH
What students need?
According to Daniels and Araposthatis (2005), the capable but “disengaged and reluctant
teenage learners” need their teachers to build trusting relationships with them, align the
curriculum with their interests, and decrease use of extrinsic motivation. A motivating teacher is
flexible, understands situations from a student’s point of view, and allows students to
experiment, discuss, and encourages. If topics related to them, students will engage. If students
feel competent, they will complete a task. Students are successful if their skills are matched to
the challenge at hand while at the same time being pushed to a slightly higher level, in other
words aiming for the zone of proximal development should be the goal.
To help students reach their zone of proximal development, good teaching practices that
foster student’s learning and achievement is necessary. According to Tal et al. (2006), good
teaching practices include covering major components of the curriculum, representing reasonable
content knowledge, using good management skills, using technology, creating a calm and caring
learning atmosphere, and collaboration and attitudes toward students.
To succeed in science-college classes, students need a solid science background, ability
to think critically, a positive attitude toward science, self-discipline and study skills. Many
students do not have that because they were not exposed to an organized and systematic number
of skills and techniques that taught them ‘how to learn’ (Belzer et al. 2003). I could say the same
of most students at my high school, particularly in not knowing how to learn.
What can teachers do?
The Humanitas Curriculum
Humanitas is a interdisciplinary, thematic, and team teaching model (New American
Schools, 1998). In this model, teachers form grade level teams, work together to define themes,
develop units around those themes, teach those units, and evaluate student performance to
redefine their units. Based on the research, this program has been employed mostly in English
and Social studies. There was slight mention of Humanitas used in the sciences, but not detail
studies were found. The premise of this model seems engaging to me because it involves all
stakeholders of education in community building, discussions, and higher-order thinking.
According to Neil Anstead (1993), in the Humanitas students are guided to active
listening and critical thinking. They start making connections between their classes, they begin
to understand the power of words in shaping their behavior, they develop a habit of thinking
about words and their meanings, and they begin to understand that there can be many solutions
to a problem. A study conducted by UCLA reported that students in interdisciplinary Humanitas
classes read better, write better, think more critically, attend school more often, drop out less, and
go onto post-secondary education more frequently than students in traditional classes. Teachers
in the Humanitas more likely interact more with colleagues, continue their studies, and have
higher expectations and better relationships with their students. Families end up having more
engaging and academic conversations at the dinner table. Wow! This really leads to better
academic lives for everyone involved. In theory, the Humanitas sounds wonderful, but what
does it really take to make it a reality? What will take to make the results of Humanitas a reality
in my SLC and my classroom?
In my SLC, the 9th grade team has superficially defined a few themes, the 10th grade and
th
11 grade themes have been identified, but now we need to plan our units. In reality planning
and carrying out the plan, in teams, take time and money. My SLC does not have the money to
pay teachers to plan together, so I will not see any results of Humanitas in the next year or two.
So far, I have not found any concrete strategies unique to Humanitas that I can use on my own,
without being in a team.
A Student-Centered Approach, the Constructivist Model
This model provided me with real tools to use, but again planning time and the
mechanism of application is complex. In this study Brurrowes (2003) used traditional science
teaching for 100 students and the student-centered approach for 104 students in her Biology
classes at a large urban university. In the student-centered approach, using constructivism, she
used active teaching and cooperative groups to help students achieve better grades on standard
exams, develop higher level thinking skills, and spark more interest in biology. According to
Burrowes’ data more students in the student-centered group earned As and Bs in the final exam,
only 4 dropped the class compared to 12 in the traditional group, the discussions in the studentcentered group were a lot more engaging and alive in the portion of the final exam. In addition,
at the end of the year more students in the student-centered group (70% vs. 50%) expressed that
their interest in biology was high.
Burrowes used the Constructivist Learning Model described as the “5 E” (Engage,
Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) and cooperative learning, to help accomplish her goals.
She engaged her student through short lectures (10-15 minutes) to introduce new material. To
allow student to explore, Burrowes placed students in groups to solve problems or work on
exercises immediately after the lecture.
To explain, students in the group wrote their consensus answers on a sheet that was turned in a t
the end of the period. Students usually explained their answers to the rest of the class as well.
To elaborate, misconceptions were addressed based on student responses or new material was
introduced. Burrowes received from her students immediate feedback and she was as well
giving feedback to her students. This immediate feedback allowed her the opportunity to
evaluate her teaching approach, her students, and the students themselves. The groups in this
research included four students who worked closely together, that eventually felt comfortable
having one member of the group taking quizzes and earning points for the group. They became
comfortable with each other to solve problems together, develop excellence by practicing, and
develop high order thinking skills. Higher order thinking skills were developed through multianswer questions, concept maps, discussion scenarios, graph interpretation, graphing data,
solving problems, and drawing conclusions, etc.
Study Skills Course to Improve and Facilitate Learning Biology
Belzer et al. (2003) designed a one semester course, Concepts in Biology, to improve
study skills, critical thinking skills, self-esteem and biology content knowledge, and to explore a
better way to facilitate student learning. Skills and thought included not-taking, test-taking,
textbook reading, general study skills for biological science, metacognition, and critical thinking
skills related to major concepts in biology. Students kept a journal with entries that included:
unfamiliar words with their definitions, possible test questions with their answers, summary of
main points of the lecture, difficult questions, and “time budget” and a time budget of weekly
study activities. Sample journal entries were provided to students to understand the purpose,
format, and benefits of keeping a journal. Students also participated in small group activities and
short lectures/discussions while using the targeted skills.
The success of the Concepts in Biology course was measured on students final test scores
in Zoology, test scores in the content of Concepts in Biology, and motivation tests. The content
included concepts in cell biology, bioenergetics, evolution, genetics, ecology, science technology
and society, and taxonomy. For the motivation test, the motivated strategies for learning
questionnaire (MSLQ) was used. The MSLQ contained three motivation scales; interest in the
course, expectancy for success, and test anxiety. The MSLQ also contained learning strategy
scales. The cognitive strategy scale measured rehearsal, elaboration, and organization strategies.
The metacognitive strategy measured critical thinking and self-regulation. The resource
management strategy scale measured time/study environment, effort regulation, help seeking,
and peer learning.
The strategies that students valued the most were time management, taking tests,
memorizing information, learning from tests, taking notes, etc. in order of importance. The least
valued strategy for student was concept mapping. Perhaps students were not as strong in content
knowledge and critical thinking, which is required to build a concept map. Students reported
that journal entries were helpful in asking questions; were good reviews for tests; help them
review, remember concepts, and identify unclear concepts; and organize notes. Some students in
the Concepts in Biology course complained that too much time was spent on study skills and not
the content, but others expressed their excitement about learning how to learn for other classes.
Most students seemed to value test scores more than the study skills.
According to the authors of this research, the Concepts course significantly improved
content knowledge, motivation, and learning strategies in students. The students became more
aware of their suitable learning strategies, especially in cognitive and management strategies.
The time, energy, and resources for this project were considerable. The authors insist that the
benefits of implementing a study skills course far outweigh the cost, because students learn to
learn and apply that to any other class.
My Conclusion
After reading a number of research articles, I have concluded that there are so many buzz
words that ultimately mean the same things to create a healthy learning atmosphere where
students feel comfortable asking questions, expressing opinions, exploring, and even making
mistakes. I found a few teaching approaches that include strategies of my interest. The
Humanitas Curriculum is a more interdisciplinary, thematic, and writing-based approach that
involves the collaboration of a number of teachers to work together. While my SLC is interested
in using Humanitas, it does not have the funds to support teachers. Using Humanitas and seeing
its results in the next two years is not an option for me at this time. The student-centered
approach/constructivist model includes more organized cooperative groups, more student talk,
and more frequent assessments. The study skills course research focused on teaching students
learn how to learn.
Designing curriculum (with interesting and personalized assignments) to address the
needs of many students, including the disengaged and reluctant learners, special education
students, English language learners, the gifted students, etc., will be very challenging that will
take a few years. The Humanitas model will further contribute to more complex and meaningful
outcomes by working with other teachers, but again this will take time. Implementing a study
skills course in the sciences at my high school would be next to impossible, but I can certainly
incorporate strategies to help students learn or learn how to learn.
My Plan of Action
My ultimate goal is to see more students taking AP science classes and continuing on to
college majoring in science. To see that I need to motivate students, provide them with learning
strategies, and improve passing rates in general biology. I need to keep helping students take
control of their own education. I need to improve my teaching strategies, design more
meaningful and relevant curriculum, build stronger relationships with students, their parents, and
other teachers (naturally in my SLC).
Creating a motivating and healthy learning environment by planning activities that give
students opportunities to learn skills and strategies, take risks, and show talents will continue to
be one of my favorite priorities. I will look for and employ the little tricks to spark intrinsic
motivation in my students and help them learn how to lean. I will continue working with my
student on their graduation plans to help them understand the connection between their success
now and their future lives.
There is much I need to do. I feel overwhelmed! Creating a clear and concrete plan to
motivate my students will be a step in the desired direction. The research articles on studentcentered approach/constructivist model and a study skills course gave me some concrete and
applicable strategies to improve student performance and motivation in my classroom. Even
though I feel like I am using many of them, I now come to the realization that I am probably
using too many strategies at the same time. I need to choose a few of them, clearly define them
with a purpose, create an organized plan and consistently implement them. I anticipate creating
this organized plan being a challenge for which I will need some assistance.
References
Anstead, N. (1993). Hooking Kids with Humanitas. Educational Leadership, 51(1), 84-86.
Belzer, S., Miller, M., & Shoemake, S. (2003). Concepts in Biology. A Supplemental Study
Skills Course Designed to Improve Introductory Students’ Skills for Learning Biology. The
American Biology Teacher, 65(1), 30-41.
Burrowes, P. (2003). A Student-Centered Approach to Teaching General Biology that Really
Works: Lord’s Constructivist Model Put to a Test. The American Biology Teacher, 65(7), 491501.
Daniels, E. & Arapostathis, M. (2005). What Do They Really Want? Student Voices and
Motivation Research. Urban Education, 40(1), 34-59.
McDonald, J. & Klein, E. (2003). Networking for Teacher Learning: Toward a Theory of
Effective Design. Teachers College Record, 105(8), 1606-1621.
New American Schools. (1998). Rethinking Education Humanitas Curriculum. Urban Learning
Centers.
Tal, T., Krajcik, J., & Blumenfield, P. (2006). Urban Schools’ Teachers Enacting Project-Based
Science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(7), 722-745.