Running Head: CREATING MOTIVATING AND ENGAGING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Creating Motivating and Engaging Learning Environments

Arizona State University

Racheal Molzahn
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Creating Motivating and Engaging Learning Environments

In mathematics, people commonly expect the teacher to simply go over procedures up at

the board, lecture, or give examples of problems. The issue with this method is that students

often do not gain the ability to think for themselves, forcing them to copy problems and

examples that they were given in the notes. When a problem does not match an example well, a

student may enter a state of panic, thinking that they do not know how to solve the problem. The

fact is, these students were not given the tools to think through the problem, and they do not have

the tools to solve it. That being said, it is important to give students a good background on topics

that are covered in class. Promoting student engagement and motivating learning environments

helps students be better prepared to answer these types of questions and think more critically

about the problems.

In my survey, I wanted to address typical math procedures to see the level of student

understanding on different types of questions and different ways to think about and solve those

problems. That being said, I created the survey to revolve around what the students understood to

build off of in work on problems. The first question I asked the students was based on their

background in mathematics. Everyone has a different background and I wanted to see where the

student foundation lied to build off of. Students generally felt that they could do basic math, but

upon getting into higher education, they began getting extremely frustrated and confused and had

holes in their knowledge. This, I believe, is based off of the fact that many students are simply

meant to memorize the content they learned. By giving students background knowledge,

“Students are given opportunities to apply learning to authentic situations that build deep

learning understanding and skills, develop curiosity and interest, promote critical habits of mind,

and illustrate the value of the learning beyond school” (Seif 2018). Allowing students the
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willingness to learn outside of the classroom helps them be more open minded and willing to go

further with their education. In addition, developing that curiosity can help the student be

interested in learning more, helping them become more passionate about mathematics in the

future. Furthermore, I used some questions about understanding of graphs, tables, and equations

because these are the foundations of mathematics. The use of tables, graphs, equations, and

pictures are extremely important and helpful for students to process deeper meaning of

mathematical concepts. The focus of “Deep learning promotes the qualities children need for

success by building complex understanding and meaning rather than focusing on the learning of

superficial knowledge that can today be gleaned through search engines” (Seif 2018). By using

alternative methods and explanations, students can understand what they are learning, rather than

just memorizing it. It is important for students to have different methods to base their

understanding off of so that they can make connections and have a good understanding of what

they are doing and discussing. Discussion is important to have in a math class, though it is rarely

seen. Discussion involves working with other students to “result” in “deeper learning” to help

students “leave school with how, when and why to apply skills and knowledge” (Wickline 2015).

Student discussion is vital to student success in understanding content. In group work, students

can bounce ideas off one another and understand what they may be thinking incorrectly or

discussing deeper into an idea together. Finally, I made sure to see what students have available

to them to ensure success at home and provide alternative resources for students at home who

may be missing some necessities to online learning.

Overall, math is a tricky subject to teach. It is not easy to organize conversations for math

class, as there must be background knowledge to find a deeper understanding. It is important to

work on deeper understanding by having the students work on discussion and to provide
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collaborative time, rather than simply lecture. Students often lack good foundation for math, so it

is important to focus on strong problems that get students thinking. This way, the problem can

often be referred back to for student understanding and further knowledge.

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Survey

I created a Google Form to survey various students. Please click this line for a link to my

survey.
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Work Cited

Seif, E. (2018, November 16). Dimensions Of Deep Learning: Levels Of Engagement And

Learning. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://inservice.ascd.org/dimensions-of-

deep-learning-levels-of-engagement-and-learning

Seif, E. (2018, October 16). What is Deep Learning? Who are the Deep Learning Teachers?

Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://inservice.ascd.org/what-is-deep-learning-

who-are-the-deep-learning-teacher

Wickline, H. (2018, February 06). Creating the Conditions for Deeper Learning. Retrieved

September 19, 2020, from https://hewlett.org/creating-the-conditions-for-deeper-learning/