Applying Cognitive Learning
Theories to Engage and Motivate
Students in STEM Classrooms
Stephen Tonks
Educational Psychology
May 15, 2013
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Cognitive Science & STEM Ed
1. Learning is constructive, not receptive
2. Motivation and beliefs are integral to
cognition
3. Social interaction is fundamental to
cognitive development
4. Knowledge, strategies, and expertise are
contextual
*Bruning, Schraw, Norby, and Ronning (2004)
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1. Learning is Constructive
• Constructivism: People combine existing
knowledge with new information to build new
knowledge
• Learning = constructing meaning
• Students need to make their own discoveries
and thus construct their own knowledge
• Duckworth (2006) on Piaget: Create a
classroom where students can discover
*Piaget & others
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What do you see?
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Constructivism in the Classroom
• Any amount of “active” helps
• Background knowledge is HUGE
• A range of experiences and many
experiences help students learn
• Experiences become background
knowledge
• Expending effort & deep processing aids
memory
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3. Social Interaction is Fundamental
• Cognitive skills evolve from social interactions with
parents, teachers, etc.
• Culture uses “tools for thought”
– Speech, writing, mathematical & scientific concepts
• Relatedness as a psychological need
• In classrooms: Groupwork, scaffolding, peer tutoring,
reciprocal teaching, CUT SOME OF THESE?
*Vygotsky; Deci & Ryan
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4. Cognitions are Contextual
• Cognitive growth occurs in a sociocultural
context that influences the form it takes
• Transfer of advanced skills is difficult
• EXPAND?
– Knowledge, strategies, expertise
*Vygotsky
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2. Motivation & Beliefs are Integral
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Many modern motivation theories
Self-efficacy (Bandura, etc.)
Mindset Theory (Dweck)
Achievement Goals (Pintrich, etc.)
Self-Determination Theory
– Three Psychological Needs
*Deci & Ryan
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Self-Determination Theory
Three Psychological Needs
• Autonomy
• Relatedness
• Competence
• Innate
• Fulfillment = Good
• Deprivation = Bad
• A-B-C (for easy recall)
• Environment can change motivation
*Deci & Ryan
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Perceived Autonomy
• Students need to feel that they have some
control over their own learning
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Mark Twain on Autonomy
…Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to
do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not
obliged to do. And this would help him to
understand why constructing artificial flowers or
performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling
ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement.
There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive
four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles
on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege
costs them considerable money; but if they were
offered wages for the service, that would turn it into
work and then they would resign.
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Autonomy Support
• Giving students SOME control over their own
learning
• Opposite of controlling behavior
• How to
– Provide choices
– Encourage
– Give rationales
• How not to
– Give orders
– Use bribes
– Make threats
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Why Support Autonomy?
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Conceptual understanding
Retention of content
Achievement
Intrinsic motivation
Positive affect
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Now, Apply It!
• Take one concept that you teach, and
apply an idea from today
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