Self determination theory
Published on Oct 27, 2022 by Martin Kvist.

If we want our students to have good learning experiences, we want them to feel motivated. If motivation comes down to these three basic psychological needs, we need to design our classes and teach in a way that promote these three needs. But how do we do that? Lets break it down one psychological need at a time.

Most of the time we like to feel self directed, that we are the ones in control. The most common method of teaching is known as the Deductive method, the teacher tells or shows directly what he/she wants to teach, this is also referred to as direct instruction. However the deductive method is often criticized because it teaches in an isolated way, little attention is paid to meaning, and practice is often mechanical with very little autonomy for the learner, it is a “do as you are told” approach to learning. One of my favorite quotes about teaching outlines this very well:

“Tell me and I forget”

“Teach me and I remember”

“Involve me and I learn”

– Bob Adamson

Involve me, make me feel autonomous and I learn.

In the process of learning we want to be presented with challenges that are just right, meaning if the challenge is too hard we fail and become frustrated, or if the challenge is too easy we loose interest, and often don’t learn since we already mastered this challenge. If the challenge is just right we learn and develop further skills. This is known as the zone of proximal development ZPD (ref vygotsky). To create an optimal learning environment it is important to match the challenges to the students zone of proximal development, where with the proper guidance our students can succeed and experience competency.

There are many theories of learning, the one that is probably most familiar to most people is known as behaviorism. Behaviorism was indeed one of the first theories of learning to be formulated, it was mainly based on animal studies. In behaviorism learning is defined as a change of behavior as an effect of an external stimulus, also known as operant conditioning, like a rat learning to press a lever for food. However as one can imagine this definition of learning has many shortcomings, little attention is paid to meaning or cognitive processes. If we are only motivated by a stimulus like getting a good grade, we often forget most of the subject once the exam is passed. More recent theories of learning goes as far as defining learning as a social process that cannot be separated from the social context in which it occurs. Indeed once we finish school much of the learning we experience happens in some social context, a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems. (ref Wenger). Us humans have a great desire to be connected to others, to feel related. Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (ref Wenger). Thus to create optimal learning environments we want to foster conditions where learners interact with each other in communities of practice, learning in a social context and feeling related to the other learners.

• Autonomy
• Competency
• Relatedness

References

In this graph I have outlined the power/authority relationship of different approaches based on the tool used, questions versus answers and the degree of autonomy for the students.