Motivation in Learning

Without motivation to learn, every trick in a tutor’s book is not enough to get a student to move beyond their personal difficulties. Motivation is key to learning, yet it cannot be imposed by others. It must come from within the child. This is challenging because so often parents and teachers know what’s best for a child, and yet if the student is not motivated, all this knowledge is useless.

Learning differences such as dyslexia or ADHD have effects that extend far beyond academic learning. An individual’s social life can be effected, as well as his or her emotional well-being. Often, counseling may be helpful to guide children and families through the social and emotional difficulties resulting from feeling different in school. Sadly, when children are not given the tools to overcome their difficulties, they can lose motivation, resulting in them getting either further behind in school. This vicious cycle of learned helplessness can be prevented or reversed through effective support from family members, teachers, friends, and specialists.

 I have found that physical movement is such an important ingredient in getting kids motivated to learn. When I worked as an educational therapist in Singapore, I almost always began sessions with exercises inspired by Brain Gym®, a movement-based program that uses specific exercise to increase communications between left and right brain hemispheres. While the science behind Brain Gym® is unclear at this point, there is no question that movement of some form has many positive physiological benefits for all of us. At the very least, it increases blood flow, supplying more oxygen to the brain, making it easier to think and focus on the task at hand.