Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Academic Exchange Quarterly

Can challenging classes also be enjoyed?

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Because enjoyment of academics increases intrinsic motivation, it also has the potential to facilitate learning. However, an optimal learning environment is not only enjoyable but also challenges students to fully use and improve their skills. We examined the relationships between challenge and enjoyment in fifth-grade mathematics classrooms. Results indicate that provision of choice positively affects enjoyment, and interest in the material mediates the relationship between challenge and enjoyment. Thus, challenging learning environments can also be enjoyable, provided the material fits students' interests and goals.

Introduction

Students are motivated to seek activities which they find enjoyable. Their environment has the capacity to affect enjoyment and, thus, intrinsic motivation to learn. When students enjoy academics and the academic environment, they are intrinsically motivated to learn. Intrinsic motivation leads to both higher levels of learning and creativity. Understanding and implementing elements necessary to create environments that will enhance students' enjoyment in the classroom will also produce higher quality educational experiences. Because the primary goal of our education system is to teach and inspire a desire for learning in our youth, then determining the best environments for doing so should be of the utmost importance to educators.

Csikszentmihalyi (2000) postulates that it is through the study of enjoyment that one gains a true understanding of intrinsic motivation. He observes that when people find pleasure in an activity or behavior, they will choose to engage in that activity or behavior merely to experience pleasure; no further reward is required. When educators are able to create the conditions necessary for students to enjoy their experiences in the classroom, then students seek to learn and produce quality work for the pleasure that they gain from the experience (Glasser, 1993). Enjoyment not only produces a higher level of learning but also higher levels of creativity and quality work (Renzulli, 1994). Therefore, if one seeks to affect intrinsic motivation in the student population, then one must also seek to understand the conditions necessary for enjoyment in academics.

Of the many aspects of intrinsic motivation, choice, challenge, and interest are three of the most researched. For example, Ryan and Deci (2000) found that choice enhances intrinsic motivation because it permits a greater sense of independence. This is important because when students are allowed choices in the classroom they tend to feel more personally involved and take greater responsibility for their part in the educational process (Gentry & Springer, 2002). However, this only holds true when the activities provided them are intrinsically interesting (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Most people prefer to engage in interesting rather than non-interesting activities. Whether or not there is potential reward or goal attainment,...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!