Recognizing and Nurturing Intrinsic Motivation: A Cautionary Tale.

Perhaps we should put the corks back on the champagne bottles. In the generally accepted story about teacher identification of gifted students, there are two phases. First, there were the bad old days. During this benighted era, teachers associated giftedness with the activities of "teacher-pleasers" (Taylor, 1978), i.e., students who conformed to teacher expectations. Frequently, these students were very responsive to extrinsic motivations and rewards. But now, according to the story, we are in the age of enlightened teacher identification of giftedness. Even introductory teacher education courses alert prospective teachers to the exceptional qualities of nonconformism and intrinsically motivated students. Or do they?

Although I am aware that generalizations based upon my observation of two sections of teaching interns hardly meet criteria of statistical reliability, I believe that I encountered a situation last year that may be widely prevalent, and that may shake our confidence about our ability to identify intrinsically motivated gifted students, particularly those who exhibit the most subtle forms of giftedness. These failures in identification, in turn, have important consequences for both curriculum and classroom management.

In the fall 1997 semester, I taught two sections of Classroom Methodology and Management at The University of Texas-Brownsville (UT-B). UT-B is located in the southernmost region of the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border. I taught 48 advanced undergraduate interns, 42 females and six males. Both the UT-B interns and the elementary students who they observed are overwhelmingly Mexican-American. As part of their course requirements, these interns collectively observed more than 1,000 K-5 students in 12 Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) elementary schools. BISD students are 98% Mexican American. Since Texas has a state-funded gifted and talented mandate, some interns were assigned to G/T classrooms, others to special education, physical education, music, and to regular classrooms.

The interns are required to complete 45 hours of observation. By observing and assisting mentor teachers, the interns become familiar with classroom organization, classroom management techniques, and preventive discipline strategies. In addition to the observation hours, the interns attend a two-hour weekly seminar where they discuss their observations. At these seminars, I also introduce material on curriculum methodology and classroom management. Based on the educational theorist's work covered at the seminar, I assign a focus statement or question to guide the interns' observations for the following week.

During the third week of class, students were assigned chapter in Edward's Classroom Discipline and Management (1997) that dealt with the pros and cons of providing students with external reinforcers and the effect that these have on intrinsic motivation. The definition of intrinsic motivation, used by Edwards, was people who "pursue optimal challenges, display greater innovativeness, and tend to perform better under challenging conditions" (p. 59). Armed with information from their text, interns entered their assigned elementary classroom prepared to engage in selective observation. At the completion of that weeks' three hours of observation and interaction with students, interns were required to identify a student who appeared to match the characteristics of an intrinsically motivated child and to report the behaviors that influenced their decision.

Interns' statements and observations resulted in an unexpected discovery and established two additional course objectives. Surprisingly, 46 of the 48 interns identified a female as the student who most frequently exhibited the characteristics of an intrinsically motivated individual. Reflectively, as I read the interns' summaries, it became apparent that the definition of intrinsic motivation provided in our course text needed to be supplemented with views of other theorists. Furthermore, because of the correlation frequently established between intrinsic motivation and gifted students, this seemed like a prime opportunity to share information about the identification of students for gifted and talented programs.

Amabile (1989) and Gottfried & Gottfried (1996) view intrinsically motivated students as students who accept challenges willingly, show persistence in difficult tasks, exhibit curiosity, remain task-committed, and reflect satisfaction with their efforts regardless of the views' of others. Raffini (1996) relates that intrinsic motivation is the desire to seek and conquer challenges. He also writes that intrinsic motivation is

   fueled by students' psychoacademic needs to control their own decisions
   (autonomy); to do things that help them feel successful (competence); to
   feel part of something larger than themselves (belonging and relatedness);
   to feel good about who they are (self-esteem); and to find pleasure in what
   they do (involvement and stimulation). (p. 3)

Implications of the 48 teacher interns' summaries indicated that many of the characteristics described by Amabile, Gottfried & Gottfried, and Raffini were overlooked in their observations. Instead, it appeared that the interns focused on what Taylor (1978) referred to as teacher pleasing characteristics of students.

Interns summarized selected students' characteristics in various ways. Vanessa's self-stimulation and willingness to be an autonomous learner was described by her decision to read to herself. Although quietly efficient and intelligent, Jessica and Cynthia may represent teacher pleasers rather than intrinsically motivated students. Their lack of class participation diminishes their consideration as risk-takers, but because they liked to work independently they could be considered, like Vanessa, to be autonomous learners. Interns wrote:

* There is one particular girl named Vanessa who is always in a mood of learning. She gets to class ready to begin to work and she finishes her work real fast. Once she finishes her work, she begins to read.

* Jessica is intrinsically motivated. She is very quiet and only answers when she thinks she knows the answer. She does not look for praise but rather wants to learn for her own will.

* Cynthia writes her compositions without asking questions or seeking approval. She writes her sloppy copy, shows me she has completed it, and moves on to her neat copy. She does not participate much in class or share her work. However, she is on the A honor roll.

In the following statements, enthusiastic Maria's desire to obtain praise from the teacher is more indicative of the need for extrinsic motivation than a sign of an intrinsically motivated individual. Rachel's love of challenging material is a strong indication that she has a very positive self-efficacy (the belief that one can succeed) and parallels the characteristics of a gifted student:

* One of my students, Maria, is intrinsically motivated because she says, "Look what I did!," when she does a good job on something.

* I have observed an intrinsically motivated child when she does her work. The clues that led me to this conclusion were her enthusiasm to listen, to observe, to participate, and to do her work. Rachel is always willing to learn and likes to do challenging activities.

As I read through my students' summaries, I noticed that a number of students were recognized for their speed and accuracy but only Lee Ray, a kindergarten male student, was recognized for his risk-taking. His teacher intern wrote, "He answers all of the questions, correct or not!"

In addition, though pride and joy in completed projects was frequently described, only one female student was recognized for the critical analysis she made of her work. In this instance, the intern reported that a student named Annabel was upset with a drawing she had made. The intern wrote, "I personally thought that it was an excellent drawing." But when she asked the student, "Why don't you like your drawing?" she replied, Yo se que lo puedo hacer me jot (because I know I can do better).

It is plausible that the 46 female, elementary students identified by the UT-B interns were the brightest and most intrinsically motivated in their classes, yet I suspect that in some instances, conforming behaviors and perfectionism, most often associated with female students, attracted the interns' attention and that highly active, inquisitive, and creative students were overlooked because of classroom behavior problems. As experienced teachers are well aware, when given the opportunity, curious students with high energy levels can find many creative ways to fill their time. By being informed and recognizing the potential of the subtle behaviors that gifted, intrinsically motivated students demonstrate, beginning teachers can, with insightful planning, successfully funnel that excess energy and curiosity into positive worthwhile goals. Thus, through active engagement, they will steer students away from behavior problems.

While researchers search for the perfect definition and origin of intrinsic motivation another debate has been taking place. This debate focuses on the effect of external rewards upon student motivation and classroom behavior. Many educational theorists report that external rewards diminish the quality of the work and create disinterest in topics that might otherwise be enjoyed and enthusiastically pursued. According to Kohn (1993), "Rewards are devastatingly effective in smothering enthusiasm for activities children might otherwise enjoy" (as quoted in Edwards, 1997, p. 59) Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett (1973) found that

   for children who have intrinsic motivation, an external reward system can
   be devastating. The child will no longer work for the joy or notice the
   satisfaction of accomplishment, but will focus on the learning task as a
   means to a different goal, the reward. Once the reward stops being offered,
   the task ceases to be worthwhile. For gifted students this is most
   important. Not only do they have more inner control available earlier, they
   are more sensitive to the demands of the environment. They can, in fact,
   lose more of their perceived power faster than will the average learner. It
   then becomes important to plan an environment that builds inner locus and
   heightens the perception of choice. (pp. 353-54)

A number of interns described how their intrinsically motivated student choices reacted to extrinsic rewards. They wrote,

* In this class, I have witnessed one child who does the work for herself, not to get a reward. She does her work on time and doesn't have to be coerced to do her work with a reward.

* Hayley always does the work she is given and asks for more. Today she picked up on the idea of "the end." She does things for herself without ever receiving a reward.

* Luanne is my intrinsic learner. She always finishes the assignments first and she always asks for something else to do. She never asks for rewards of any kind. She just wants to be working.

Intrinsic motivation is often associated with gifted students, and is viewed by some as a "fragile commodity, lost more easily than gained" (Shore, Cornell, Robinson, & Ward, 1991, p. 215), a classroom teachers' ability to recognize and nurture intrinsic motivation becomes a crucial factor in fostering self-esteem and in promoting enrichment. If Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett's (1973) findings are accurate, then preservice teachers should carefully weigh the benefits and problems associated with external rewards and focus more on how to nurture that delicate potential that their students possess. Teacher practices that encourage intrinsic motivation are: allowing for flexible deadlines; eliminating the need for overt supervision by promoting independence; maintaining a safe environment where students feel free to ask questions and to take risks; giving students' choices; creating a stimulating environment for learning; and keeping competitive behaviors at a minimum.

This classroom assignment indicates that pre-service teachers without direct instruction are not automatically able to identify the underlying student behaviors that indicate high potential. Identification must precede curriculum acceleration, enrichment, or adjustment. Teachers then must establish a trust with their students which allows students to become collaborators rather than spectators in the learning process.

The UT-B students who participated in this assignment are now aware of the less apparent characteristics of intrinsically motivated gifted students. If they were to repeat this assignment, I believe that the selection of an intrinsically motivated student would reflect a more even distribution of gender. I also believe that terms such as asks critical questions, self-analyzes, remains committed to an activity long after assessment has taken place, and appears to have a lot of creative ability would appear. At UT-B, it is time to uncork the champagne.

REFERENCES

Amabile, T. M. (1989). Growing up creative. New York: Crown.

Edwards, C. H. (1997). Classroom discipline & management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Gottfried, A. E. & Gottfried, A. W. (1996). A longitudinal study of academic intrinsic motivation in intellectually gifted children: Childhood through early adolescence. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40 (4), 179-182.

Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. (As quoted in Edwards, C. H. (1997). Classroom discipline & management (2nd ed.), p. 59. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Lepper, M., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), 129-137.

Raffini, J. P. (1996). 150 Ways to Increase Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Shore, B. M., Cornell, D. G., Robinson, A., & Ward, V. S. (1991). Recommended practices in gifted education: A critical analysis. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Taylor, C. W. (1959). Identifying the creative individual, In E. P. Torrance (Ed.), Creativity: Proceedings for the second Minnesota conference on gifted children. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Continuation Study.

Manuscript submitted February, 1998.

Revision accepted September, 1998.

Nancy Lashaway-Bokina is an assistant professor at Central Michigan University. She teaches courses in reading, gifted education, and educational research and psychology. At the time of this study, she was on a one-year leave from CMU and teaching at the University of Texas-Brownsville.