How Schools Motivate the Preschool Learner

Your child's abilities (what she can do) and motives (what she likes and wants to do) may not always be the same. Even the brightest intellects vary tremendously in motivation to learn and perform, which is simply how self-motivated they feel to:

• Set challenging goals for themselves in tasks (initiative)



• Plan in advance to do what needs to be done to meet the goals, and



• Overcome barriers along the way to meeting their goals (persistence).

Research indicates that babies start out very motivated. Barring disability, they are naturally inclined to grab objects dangling from the play mobile, stack blocks, and the like. But contrary to popular wisdom, research shows that differences in self-motivation emerge rapidly. Even some very young children show unusually high motivation: they might take toys meant to be used in one way and try to make the task harder. They don't just want to build a tall tower of blocks, they want each tower to be the tallest they've ever built - and they keep trying until they learn to build sturdier bases that make it possible. Other children's motivation extinguishes very early. By preschool, a child already has learned motivation patterns. A preschool that fits can teach goal setting and persistence to less motivated children and allow motivated children to excel on their own.

In very young children, you should assume that your child is Typical unless you have observed that your child often acts like the descriptions for High or Low motivation.

• High Motivation: Your child often tries new hard things on her own without an adult asking her, and she often works to overcome problems or barriers in her play and activities without giving up.



• Typical Motivation: Your child initially tries to do well when asked by a grownup, and she may occasionally try something hard without a grownup suggesting it, but she usually stops if something is frustrating or hard for her.



• Low Motivation: Your child is not bothered when she does not do well with a task, even when a grownup has asked her to do it a certain way.

Motivation for Learning and The Preschool Search