The category “motive” belongs to the most important in a number of sciences, and therefore is interpreted quite widely. With regard to educational activities, it would be most appropriate to resort to the definition of this category, which was proposed by A. Leontyev ,
A.N. Leontiev, first of all, suggested not identifying the concepts of goal and motive, since they are different in their psycho-behavioral nature. In addition, he argued that the motivation of learning activities is covariant - that is, some motives can manifest themselves in different ways, and even be completely different, while striving to achieve the same goal, and, conversely, one and the same can form a desire the same motives.
The motive, in the simplest formulation, is a factor that prompts a person to any activity. All of them can be classified into conscious and unconscious. For example, a student can clearly understand that he needs to study, while his own motives for learning activities may not be clear to him. They become more aware only with an extremely narrowed educational task and a specifically formulated local goal, such as, for example, you can motivate a first grader to do homework so that he does not upset parents with poor grades. But this does not mean at all that this motive will extend to an understanding of the significance of homework in general.
The study of the motivational nature of man, especially schoolchildren, is a difficult task and suggests the need to study their entire hierarchy so that its formation in the interests of learning represents a systemic and integral process.
In this study, the starting point can be the thesis that any human activity is polymotivated, that is, the motive for a single act or action may be different. There are so many of them that, for the convenience of their study, they are classified on various grounds. Here are some types of motivation that are directly related to learning activities and their results:
- negative motivation, manifests itself as a factor in encouraging learning on the basis of the student’s understanding that if he does not study, this will entail negative consequences for him in his family, school, among peers, etc.
- positive motivation for educational activities, which, as a rule, manifests itself in two main forms.
In some circumstances, it is determined by the social goals of a person, a student, for example, by the desire to enter a prestigious educational institution after graduation. Such a position turns into a student’s attitude towards a constantly positive attitude to teaching, because it is perceived by him as part of a general social task.
In other circumstances, the positive motivation of educational activity manifests itself solely as a motive that is not relevant to the solution of social problems of positioning. In this case, it acts as a factor encouraging to learn in order to simply be an intellectually developed person, inquisitive.
Modern science claims that the motivation of educational activity includes many motives, which can be relatively divided into two groups.
Cognitive motives differ in that they are directly related to the learning process. The second group - social - to a greater extent characterizes the student’s connections with other people, but indirectly affecting his teaching.
The basis of cognitive motives are the following:
- broad motives, that is, those that directly orient the student to mastering knowledge, which, as it were, “start” interest in learning.
- educational-cognitive, these are those that encourage students to master the educational methodology in the broadest sense, that is, the techniques and methods of teaching as such.
- the motives of self-education include all those that orient the student toward the development of methods for obtaining educational information and therefore encourage him to turn to teachers, parents, adults, literature, etc. for this.
The social motivation of learning activities also includes broad social and narrow motives. The first includes everything that helps the student to understand the social significance of the doctrine, its social usefulness. The latter help shape aspirations to acquire status through their knowledge gained through successful learning. They especially emphasize the motives of social cooperation, which encourage the young man to communicate, interact with peers, and any forms of collective activity.
It is important to understand that the variety of motives for educational activity does not exhaust all the difficulties of its study, the fact is that during the training itself, the formation of learning motivation can change, because an important factor in the success of learning for each teacher and educator (in the broad sense) is the task of tracking dynamics her changes.