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I recently watched a video of Daniel Pink discussing his book, Drive<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> with a group at my school to discuss its implications for education, which, of course, led me to think about its implications for student research.\u00a0 <\/span>As Pink explains, studies indicate that extrinsic rewards only work if the task is above \u201crudimentary cognitive skills\u201d — \u201cfor simple, straightforward tasks\u2026tasks that are algorithmic, a set of rules where you have to just follow along and get a right answer.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>We all know that true research or inquiry is the polar opposite of this type of task.\u00a0 <\/span>No matter how many processes we create to explain the process of inquiry (Kuhlthau\u2019s Information Search Process<\/a>, Eisenberg and Berkowitz\u2019s Big6<\/a>, Stripling\u2019s Model of Inquiry<\/a> and many more<\/a>) even those frameworks acknowledge that it is not a linear process; it\u2019s messy and murky and a perfect example of the type of task that Pink describes as needing “conceptual, creative thinking.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Yet, even with the incredible opportunity that an inquiry project provides; I still hear students say that they\u2019ve done this before \u201ctons of times.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>They describe it as a hurdle\u2026something they have to get through for the class.\u00a0 <\/span>These descriptions definitely don\u2019t scream intrinsic motivation, but I believe we can change that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Firstly, there might be some issue with the tasks we assign and how we label them.\u00a0 <\/span>When I was still teaching English, I realized that I was using the term research<\/em> for both smaller reporting projects and an extended inquiry project when they are quite different tasks and involve far different skills.\u00a0 <\/span>As Carol Gordon explains<\/a>,<\/p>\n The research assignment acts as a reporting exercise when student involvement is limited to information gathering, which is usually demonstrated by reading, taking notes, and writing a summary. Reporting has masqueraded as researching for so long that the terms are used interchangeably.<\/p>\n For example, when students were doing brief reports on historical aspects of a novel to help their understanding before reading it, I called that research.\u00a0 <\/span>When I was expecting them to do in-depth inquiry that required skills such as the development of their own topic and questions, the synthesizing of multiple sources, and the creation of an original argument, I still called it research.\u00a0 <\/span>Though this might seem like a small distinction, it shouldn\u2019t surprise me that students began working on the in-depth research project in the same way as the report \u2013 building lists of facts from a source and moving on.\u00a0 <\/span>They didn\u2019t realize that the in-depth research project required skills extending far beyond those of reporting until we did some explicit lessons and scaffolding assignments geared toward breaking out of \u201creporting mode.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>However, this is just one thing we can learn from Drive<\/em>; next time, we\u2019ll look closely at the factors Pink describes as leading \u201cto the better performance, not to mention personal satisfaction\u201d and how those can relate to research.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Gordon, Carol. “Students As Authentic Researchers: A New Prescription for the High School Research Assignment.<\/a>” American Association of School Librarians. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.<\/p>\n Pink, Daniel. “RSA Animate \u2013 Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.<\/a>” RSA Animate. N.p., 8 Apr. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.<\/p>\n Cross-posted on Flying Off the Shelf<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently watched a video of Daniel Pink discussing his book, Drive, with a group at my school to discuss its implications for education, which, of course, led me to think about its implications for student research.\u00a0 As Pink explains, … Continue reading