University of the People

Department of Education

EDUC-5710：Intrinsic Motivation

UNIT 2: Dwarfism in the Classroom

Instructor：Dr Massengale

April, 26th, 2023

To be a truly effective teacher and for students to reach their full potential they need

to be motivated and believe in themselves and what they are capable of and as
teachers we need to know how to create engaging, exciting, and enthusiastic

opportunities for learning, no matter the content. (Gafwallner, 2019, p.113).One of the

best forms of motivation is intrinsic motivation.

What is intrinsic motivation? According to Oudeyer, P-Y, (2017), Intrinsic motivation

is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some

separable consequence. In other words, someone who is intrinsically motivated is

going to be moved to act not because there are external rewards or punishments but

because they are driven by internal rewards such as the simple enjoyment and

satisfaction of completing it. Extrinsic motivation is when someone is motivated to

act because there are consequences either good or bad this comes in the form of

rewards or punishments and can be tangible rewards, such as giving or taking away a

star on the board, or nontangible, such as praising students with high fives, or verbally

punishing students. 

Intrinsic motivation has many benefits especially for students with LD because

students that are intrinsically motivated are going to persist in tedious tasks or tasks

that they find challenging. Students that are more intrinsically motivated are also

more likely to attach meaning to their work and explore the content being taught. 

The student with an orthopedic impairment I will analyze and describe suffers from

cerebral palsy. As noted in Heller, (2003), students that fall under the term

orthorpedic impairment comprise one of the most diverse disability categories.

Cerebral palsy falls under neuromotor impairment. People with cerebral palsy can be
affected in different ways and they can range from mild to very server. The student in

my class suffers from mobility issues such as not being able to use their left hand and

being unable to walk which affects them completing tasks such as writing or physical

education. They also suffer from learning difficulties. Children with cerebral palsy

may experience specific learning difficulties, such as a short attention span, motor

planning difficulties, and language difficulties. (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research

Foundation, 2018.). One of the main issues is the student's behavior and emotional

well-being. Students with cerebral palsy can show antisocial behaviors, become

anxious, and suffer from strong emotional responses to activities they find

challenging. All these impediments are affecting the student's motivation in class

which affects his overall academic achievement.

The strategy I would use to build my student's self-esteem and motivation would be to

promote student autonomy. As a teacher, I believe that promoting student autonomy is

one of the best ways to build a student's self-esteem and intrinsic motivation,

especially in students with learning disabilities. By giving a student a voice and giving

them a choice of how and what they will learn you are giving them ownership and

responsibility in their education which makes them. Giving a student autonomy. It

creates a safe and trusted environment for students where they feel their opinions are

valued which will build a student's intrinsic motivation. A method I could use with

my student would be giving them the option of how they would like to complete tasks

or projects, a way to do this is to find out their interests and preferred learning styles

and give them a choice such as instead of reading the material they can listen to an
audiobook. Creating interesting learning centers or areas are another way to help

promote autonomy in LD students. Students with LD have shown a significant

increase in academic learning after engaging in interesting tasks like computer games

designed to enhance learning. Dev, P. (1997) Autonomy also helps to build an LD

student self-esteem or confidence because by giving them choice they can set small

attainable goals for themselves. Them setting small personal goals that they desire or

follow their interest not only will motivate them to complete them but will also help

build their self-esteem and improving their self-efficasy or belief in their capabilities.

In conclusion, Intrinsic motivation is extremely an important factor in a student's

success. According to Dev, P., (1997), Academic intrinsic motivation has been found

to be significantly correlated with academic achievement in students with and without

learning disabilities. I described one strategy to improve intrinsic motivation and self-

esteem but in reality, it takes more than one strategy especially when working with

students with learning disabilities.

References

Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, 2018, How Cerebral Palsy Affects People.
https://cparf.org/what-is-cerebral-palsy/how-doeslcerebral-palsy-affect-people.
 Dev, P. (1997). Intrinsic motivation and academic achievement what does their
relationship imply for the classroom teacher?. Remedial and special education, 18(1), 12-
19. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f364/a526307f73cbf8bbc44622d22449dcd5a4
06.pdf

Grafwallner, P. (2019). Ready to learn: The frame model for optimizing student success (a
results-oriented approach for motivating students to learn and achieve academic success). 

Heller, K.W., & Swinehart-Jones, D. (2003). Supporting the educational needs of students
with orthopedic impairments.  Physical Disabilities: Education and Related Services, v22 n1,
3-24.  ERIC. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ678650

Oudeyer, P-Y., Pierre-Yves, Kaplan, Frederic, (2007). Original Research,