Intrinsic Motivation – The Secret to Building Life-Long Learners

The educational approach of the top schools in Greater Noida has naturally changed over the years. In the 21^st-century, schools can no longer just build an academic foundation for college. They can no longer prepare students just for jobs. The spectrums of education and career have become so vast that the modern workforce can change college streams and jobs and pursue a completely different genre numerous times. This is the challenge for schools now. They have the responsibility to build life-long learners rather than masters of just one path as those solitary paths now have numerous branches coming in, making a blend of careers.

And one of the best ways to build life-long learners is to teach via intrinsic motivation. The want-to approach rather than the have-to approach. School students are now explorers instead of followers. They choose their subjects and projects instead of parents or teachers deciding for them. After all, life-long learning is a 21^st-century skill that all present students must have as the corporate world has started valuing such candidates who bring an entrepreneurial mindset.

So, how intrinsic motivation boosts life-long learning?

When students have intrinsic motivation to come to school, they do so because they are interested in the subjects that will be taught. The fear of failure is almost absent. The drive is internal rather than exte al like high grades or parent pressure. Curiosity drives the desire to learn and students seek out knowledge to actually acquire it. Exams become a tool of feedback rather than ranking students as academically strong or weak.

It is only natural that students will learn better when intrinsic motivation is sparked. The freedom to choose their subjects of interest or bigger ambition makes them curious explorers. For example, a student fascinated by engineering will automatically pay attention in math class. Another inspired by historical events will be better in the related subject. These students will explore topics beyond the school's curriculum out of their own volition. They will research, pick up new projects and pursue them tirelessly.

And here comes the concept of self-learning. The research they will undertake will be on their own. The questions they will ask will be own their own. Intrinsic motivation leads to curiosity which further leads to self-research and learning. Such motivated students pick up self-learning as a habit. They ask questions where others do not and find out answers without much help. Why are not electric cars popular? Why are not computers even smaller? These innovations have become a reality because someone was intrinsically motivated out there and they went into the quest for knowledge on their own.

Intrinsic motivation makes academics enjoyable

A concept called gamification is increasingly becoming popular in the top ten schools in Greater Noida. The approach is to gamify learning so that students find the theory more interesting. Gamification is used as a strategy to develop intrinsic motivation and this, in turn, makes learning fun. Instead of just laying out the concepts in text form to students, the matter is turned into a puzzle only solvable by clues. Or, instead of just showing students that five added with five makes ten, the top schools are employing technology that makes the summation more visual.

Allowing students to learn owing to their interests is a better motivator than saying not studying leads to failure. The latter approach creates an environment of compulsion which ultimately leads to monotony. Studying just to keep failure at bay does not lead to self-learning. It creates students who are only striving for securing the passing grade and that is never enjoyable. But learning because the students want to, researching because there is something more to know, these are fun endeavours in the academic ground. Even if there are no immediate results, students stay in a better psychological space to study, perform, achieve and find success.

Thus, it is no news that the best schools in Greater Noida are teaching via intrinsic motivation to build self-lea ers. Gradually, the sole emphasis of high grades is fading away and learning is coming to the forefront, driven by curiosity and experimentation. And BGS Vijnatham is surely the torch-bearer of this approach as the school always believed that intrinsic motivation is the ultimate key to enhanced academic performance.