Motivating students to do research
If you have students who are interested in
research and you believe this is a tool that
they need, you may be able to generate some
interest by allowing them to select their
own topics. Also put them in touch with your
Learning resource person on campus.
J. E. Wright
Samuel,
Great example. I also think a key is having students understand "what's in it for me" helps the motivation factor. Is it presented as "just an assignment because the teacher said so", or is it presented as "this will help you understand...XYZ". When they feel some personal benefit they'll be more apt to embrace reaserch.
Barry Westling
Michael,
The key (sometimes easy, sometines not so easy) is to get students to see the benefit and to see what's in it for them. When they see that, they are apot to engage more completely.
Barry Westling
One of the problems I have encountered with having students doing research is not necessarily a lack of interest of the subject (especially if they select it) - but a lack of knowledge on how to go about doing effective research. Despite a wealth of tools available, I find time-and-time again that in today's fast-paced world students do not take the time to learn how to perform research effectively.
Early in the coursework I assign students a 'research skills' exercise where they must answer specific questions that require them to use a host of mediums to answer. The Internet and peer-reviewed databases are the primary tools, but nearly every students comes away asking others, "how do you find that", or "what search term did you use". It becomes not only a fun exercise, but they learn some valuable skills that increase their motivation and confidence which results in better research outcomes....
Research is imperative in a 3d design and modeling class.
Amanda,
That's a great idea. Something I and my faculty will do is turn the question back to the student, ask them to do some reasearch to find the answer or related resources, then we'll post their answer with a hyperlink to the sources (or credit the student and the source)to our electronic course platform in the annoucement section. In this way, the student see's their work, and all students see the result of the question or material that was being sought.
Barry Westling
When a student has a question that I don't have an immediate answer for I usually ask the students to do a brief research on the question. I of course do the same. The following day I along with the class share all the information obtained. This is a great way to show that research is easy and certainly beneficial. It also shows the class that no matter what role you are in (student or teacher) research is always necessary to get answers.
Hi Jonathan,
In some classes, it's necessary to be somewhat specific in order for the course content or subject matter is addressed thoroughly. In these instances, a good compromise is to offer a variety of choices, and the students gets to select from among these.
Barry Westling
I agree. When students have an opportunity to choose what they would like to research within a given area, it provides a more personal relationship to the research.
Hi J,
Research is looked at by many as an uniteresting subject, so they immeditely tune it out. I think how it's present and the benefits that can be received contribute a lot to how embracing a student will approach doing research. One good strategy is to prsent a "Did you know..." scenario, sort of an ice-breaker kind of activity that provides a lot of very interesting, unusual, or facinating information. That's the hook. This is followed by a statement that suggests all of the preceding was obtained by research. Another approach is to present a variety of interesting research resources, perhaps with a sample topic, to reveal how easy and interesting doing research can be.
Barry Westling
