I rarely recommend video lectures because I prefer to read than to watch most presenters, but I found this TED lecture by Daniel Pink to be well worth my time. While he is addressing his points to business, they are also relevant to education.
He says: “There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.” Research shows that if a problem may be solved mechanically, by following instructions, rewards motivate workers to better performance, but when a problem requires creativity, rewards instead degrade performance.
To apply this to education, if we believe that students learn mechanically and by following instructions, then rewards may motivate them. If not, if we believe that that learning is a creative act, then we must take serious note of this research and change our pedagogical processes accordingly.
I agree, this is a fantastic video from Dan Pink and I came across it some time ago.
It does contain very valuable insights!
Here we see scientific prove for not using financial incentives for certain, more complex jobs and tasks. This might go along with personality profiling approaches, such as DISC or Structrogram (Andreas Hug) that is based on the different brain sections and – again – scientific research.
It also links to the left and right brain which might lead to the imagination need to solve more complex problems, vs. simple mechanical tasks.
I like this statement:
There is a mismatch between, what science knows and what business does!
Not sure if I agree totally with Dan’s idea of focusing on intrinsic motivation, though…
But I like his model to focus high performance with a new operation system for businesses that revolves around the three elements:
• Autonomy
- the urge to direct out own life
• Mastery
- the desire to get better and better at something that matters
• Purpose
- the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
So, what is the substance now, the steps, the recipe … I can see the contents of the Purpose section, but how do you fill the Mastery portion and what’s behind it…?
It definitely gives some input to think in a new/different direction…
- Juergen Boenisch