Boosting motivation in the classroom - Motivation Toolkit - further reading

Oct 21, 2026

Uploaded by Logic

A curated further-reading toolkit focused on boosting students’ motivation and engagement in classroom learning. The references cover teacher autonomy support, the role of prequestions and prior knowledge, early success effects, intrinsic motivation and achievement over time, and students’ task interest and success expectancy in mathematics. Additional sources address learning scaffolds such as building schemas, making activities familiar, storytelling approaches, managing distractions from mobile technology, and fostering learner confidence through self-related supports.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Motivation Toolkit - further reading

Make them think

Early success

Know your stuff

Build a schema

Tell a story

Make it familiar

Manage distractions

Be yourself

Boosting motivation in the classroom Motivation Toolkit-further reading Make them think Reeve, J., Jang, H., Carrell, D., Jeon, S. and Barch, J., 2004. Enhancing students' engagement by increasing teachers' autonomy support. Motivation and emotion, 28(2), pp.147-169 . Carpenter, S.K. and Toftness, A.R., 2017. The effect of prequestions on learning from video presentations. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(1), pp.104-109 . Kruger, J. and Dunning, D., 1999. Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of personality and social psychology, 77(6), p.1121 . Early success Rosenshine, B., 2012. Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American educator, 36(1), p.12 . Garon‐Carrier, G., Boivin, M., Guay, F., Kovas, Y., Dionne, G., Lemelin, J.P., Séguin, J.R., Vitaro, F. and Tremblay, R.E., 2016. Intrinsic motivation and achievement in mathematics in elementary school: A longitudinal investigation of their association. Child development, 87(1), pp.165-175 . Nuutila, K., Tuominen, H., Tapola, A., Vainikainen, M.P. and Niemivirta, M., 2018. Consistency, longitudinal stability, and predictions of elementary school students' task interest, success expectancy, and performance in mathematics. Learning and Instruction, 56, pp.73-83 . Know your stuff Coe, R., Aloisi, C., Higgins, S. and Major, L.E., 2014. What makes great teaching? review of the underpinning research. Ben-Peretz, M., 2011. Teacher knowledge: What is it? How do we uncover it? What are its implications for schooling?. Teaching and teacher Education, 27(1), pp.3-9 . Hattie, J., 2003. Teachers Make a Difference, What is the research evidence?. Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H. and Fung, I., 2007. Teacher Professional Learning and Development. Best Evidence Synthesis iteration (BES) . Build a schema Jang, H., 2008. Supporting students' motivation, engagement, and learning during an uninteresting activity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(4), p.798 . Recht, D.R. and Leslie, L., 1988. Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers' memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), p.16 . Tell a story Shoda, Y., Mischel, W. and Peake, P.K., 1990. Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental psychology, 26(6), p.978 . Bruner, J., 1991. The narrative construction of reality. Critical inquiry, 18(1), pp.1-21 . Make it familiar Katzir, M., Emanuel, A. and Liberman, N., 2020. Cognitive performance is enhanced if one knows when the task will end. Cognition, 197, p.104189 . Berliner, D.C., 2004. Describing the behavior and documenting the accomplishments of expert teachers. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 24(3), pp.200-212 . Manage distractions Thornton, B., Faires, A., Robbins, M. and Rollins, E., 2014. The mere presence of a cell phone may be distracting. Social Psychology. Wammes, J. D. , Seli, P. , Cheyne, J.A. , Boucher, P.O. and Smilek, D. , Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. Beland, L. P. and Murphy, R. , 2015. Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance. Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) Discussion Paper No 1350 (May 2015) . London School of Economics and Political Science. In :. London School of Economics and Political Science. Fisher, A.V. , Godwin, K. E. and Seltman, H. , 2014. Visual environment, attention allocation, and learning in young children: When too much of a good thing may be bad. Psychological science, 25(7), pp.1362-1370. Be yourself Wang*, X.L., Bernas, R. and Eberhard, P., 2004. Engaging ADHD students in tasks with hand gestures: A pedagogical possibility for teachers. Educational studies, 30(3), pp.217-229 . Wakefield, E., Novack, M.A., Congdon, E.L., Franconeri, S. and Goldin‐Me

FAQs

What research areas are covered in this motivation toolkit?

It compiles studies on student motivation and engagement, including teacher autonomy support, prequestions and prior knowledge, intrinsic motivation and achievement, and factors shaping task interest and expectancy.

How does the toolkit suggest improving engagement during learning activities?

It highlights strategies such as increasing teachers’ autonomy support, using prequestions, supporting learning through schema building and narrative/story approaches, and making tasks more familiar.

Does distraction from technology feature in the toolkit?

Yes. The reading list includes work examining how the mere presence of a cell phone can distract learners, and broader discussion of technology-related distraction and student performance.

Oct 21, 2026

Uploaded by Logic