Developing Students' Appreciation for What Is Taught in School

Abstract

This article elaborates a presentation made upon reception of the E. L. Thorndike Career Achievement Award in Educational Psychology from Division 15 of the American Psychological Association. It considers how value aspects of motivation apply to efforts to develop students' appreciation for school learning. Currently, we have only limited knowledge about situations that afford opportunities for learning school content with appreciation of its value, how to exploit those affordances, or even their benefits to learners. We need to develop our theorizing about the benefits that students may derive from learning in school and determine what curriculum makers and teachers might do to foster students' appreciation for these benefits. Teaching for appreciation requires ensuring that what is taught is worth learning, explaining the value of this content and modeling its applications, and scaffolding learning by engaging students in activities that allow them to experience its valued affordances.

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