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RUNNING HEAD: MOTIVATIONAL TEACHING STRATEGIES THAT IMPROVE STUDENTS’ LEARNING 1

MOTIVATIONAL TEACHING STRATEGIES THAT IMPROVE STUDENTS’ LEARNING

Alisa Celentano

Post University

Author Note

This paper was prepared for Capstone Project, EDU 699, taught by Dr. Ajtum-Roberts.

MOTIVATIONAL TEACHING STRATEGIES THAT IMPROVE STUDENTS' LEARNING 2

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore and discover specific motivational teaching

strategies that improve students’ learning. It is essential that teachers present information to

students in an interesting way to help them become engaged, stay attentive, and excited to learn

about a topic, which is why studying motivational teaching strategies proves to be significant to

the field of education. The more a student is motivated and involved in his/her learning, the more

a child will progress in his/her knowledge and critical thinking skills. This capstone project used

both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to collect data at a preschool program that serves

over one thousand students in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Seventeen teachers in the preschool

program answered open-ended questions pertaining to how the teachers motivate students and

why they believe the strategies they use are beneficial to increase developmental progress as well

as rated nine research-based motivational teaching strategies. An outcome report was analyzed

to discover the teachers who met or exceeded the program’s scores for students in four

developmental areas. The results revealed that providing students with immediate feedback was

rated as the most important by the teachers who met or exceeded the program’s scores. In

addition, it was discovered that teachers who successfully improved students’ learning

implemented academic techniques. Professional development training was created to educate

teachers and educators on successful motivational instructional techniques.


Summary

The capstone project conducted by an Education Specialist in a preschool program that serves

over one thousand students in Bridgeport, Connecticut researched how motivational strategies

that teachers use can positively impact students’ learning in preschool. Seventeen teachers in

the preschool program completed two surveys that asked questions pertaining to motivational

teaching strategies. Teachers were given the definition of motivation to ensure they have a clear

understanding of what the word means in relation to education. Motivation is defined as “the act

or process of giving someone a reason for doing something: the act or process of motivating

someone…the condition of being eager to act or work…a force or influence that causes someone

to do something” (Merriam-Webster, 2013, para. 1). There are variations of the definition of

motivation; however, this definition was chosen because it relates to how teachers should

motivate students to learn in the classroom. One survey asked demographic information relating

to the teacher’s education level and experience as well as questions pertaining to how they

motivate students and why they believe the strategies they use are beneficial to increase

developmental progress. A second survey asked teachers to rate specific motivational teaching

strategies.

Data was collected from using “The Creative Curriculum System for Preschool, a research-

based system…that offers comprehensive resources to help early childhood educators build

exceptional high-quality programs” (Teaching Strategies, 2011, para. 1). Data was gathered

from three Creative Curriculum checklists the teachers completed for each student in the 2012-

2013 school year that assessed progress in the areas of social emotional, cognitive, language, and

physical development. An outcome report was used to show the total percentages of

development for each of the four areas for every class and to discover the classes that have


shown the most developmental progress. The teaching strategies used in the classrooms that

have shown the highest rate of developmental growth in the reports were cited as strategies that

positively impact students’ learning. From the data collected, the Education Specialist has

demonstrated leadership by creating professional development training for over two hundred

teachers in her program to educate them on successful motivational instructional techniques, how

to implement the strategies in the classroom, and how the principles of cognitive science can be

applied to help improve teaching practices and students’ developmental learning outcomes. The

professional development training and consistent support that will be offered to the teaching staff

by the Education Specialist on motivational teaching strategies will work towards improving the

specific learning outcomes as outlined in the Creative Curriculum checklists.

Rationale

The capstone project conducted on how motivational teaching strategies can positively impact

students’ learning is important to research because there is a lack of studies conducted on

motivation and its’ impact on students at the preschool level. Specific motivational strategies

need to be discovered and explored for students in preschool because “learners’ motivation has

been consistently linked to successful learning” (Clayton, Blumberg, & Auld, 2010, p. 350). It is

essential that teachers present information to students in an interesting way to help them become

engaged, stay attentive, and excited to learn about a topic. The more a student is motivated and

involved in his/her learning, the more a child will progress in his/her knowledge and critical

thinking skills, which relates to cognitive science and how students’ learning can be positively

affected. This idea relates to Perkins’ (2009) principle of teaching to “make the game worth

playing” because motivation, especially “intrinsic motivation [has shown to predict] greater

achievement” with students (p.55). By “game”, Perkins (2009) is referring to what the students


are learning (p. 55). As a student becomes motivated in his/her learning, he/she is more apt to

want to continue learning about the topic/concept.

When a student loses interest in a topic, the teacher does not have the student’s undivided

attention because his/her mind is elsewhere. “When we withdraw attention from an event or

object, we lose consciousness of its attributes and properties” (Ahmadi, Gilakjani, & Ahmadi,

2011, p. 1366). Therefore, if a student is unmotivated, unengaged, and loses interest, he/she will

not learn the information and will be unable to use it for future reference. “The whole point of

education is to prepare people with skills and knowledge and understanding for use elsewhere,

often very elsewhere” (Perkins, 2009, p. 114). For these reasons, it is necessary for teachers to

ensure they are implementing motivational instructional strategies by providing engaging

activities that will motivate students to want to learn, which will help improve students’ learning

outcomes over time.

Literature Review

The research from the scholarly peer-reviewed articles reveals that instructional strategies

teachers implement in the classroom can have a direct impact on students’ learning. The

teaching techniques discussed in the literature review reveal teaching methods that have had a

positive influence on students’ learning in the classroom. The specific strategies that have

shown to improve students’ learning are choosing effective materials and classroom

arrangements, providing child-centered activities, integrating students’ interests, supporting

students’ intrinsic motivators, implementing activities that meet the learning preferences of the

students, being cognizant of students’ learning needs and abilities, challenging students based on

their capabilities, connecting classroom concepts to students’ experiences, and providing


students with immediate feedback (Acat & Dereli, 2012; Akhlaq, Chudhary, Malik, Saeed-ul

Hassan, & Mehmood, 2010; Boi Hoang, Sun Hee, & Yang, 2010; Clayton, Blumberg, & Auld,

2010; Collins, 2012; Goodman, et al., 2011; Hein, 2012; Little, 2012; Oche, 2012; Saleh, 2011;

Tella, 2007; & Yildirim, 2012).

The overall themes found throughout the research articles are implementing instructional

strategies that support students’ interests, intrinsic motivators, and providing students with

choices in the classroom. For example, Boi Hoang, Sun Hee, & Yang (2010) stated that the

materials that are implemented in the classroom motivate students when they are “fun…

unexpected…[and match] their interests and…daily life” (p. 348). In addition, Hein (2012)

stated that providing students with opportunities to become leaders in the classroom and make

their own choices helps teachers implement a “more open-ended and student-centered style

(productive style) where the teacher acts only as facilitator” (p. 14). Yildirim (2012) also

conducted a study that reinforced the importance of teachers supporting the students’ intrinsic

motivators (p.163). Similarly, Goodman et al. (2011) found that students’ intrinsic motivation

had a positive impact on academic achievement (p. 383). Acat & Dereli (2012) discovered in

their study that when “cognitive and lifelong learning goals motivation is very high, intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation is high and negative factors for learning motivation is low” (p. 2670).

Tella’s (2007) study helped to explain the two ways that students are motivated, either

intrinsically or extrinsically (p. 151). When students have an interest in what they are learning,

they will decide to continually want to learn about the topic, which will have a positive impact

on their academic performance in that area of interest. Teachers should understand that some

students are intrinsically motivated in the classroom on specific topics or while participating in


specific activities. These studies help to support the idea that instructional teaching strategies

impact the way students learn and can positively influence students’ developmental progress.

A different motivational instruction strategy researched by Little (2012) discussed adding

“challenge and meaningfulness in the curriculum as critical elements for promoting motivation in

gifted students” (p. 695). However, all teachers should ask themselves how they are making

learning challenging for every student in the classroom and plan instruction based on the

individual academic needs of the students. A strategy connected to this study was researched by

Oche (2012) who stated “instructional technique via prompt feedback generally improves

students’ achievement” (p. 377). Oche’s strategy connects to Little’s research study because

when teachers provide a student with consistent feedback and scaffold activities to challenge the

student, he/she is presented with activities that match his/her learning needs and, therefore, can

learn specific ways to improve in his/her learning.

All of the studies help to show that “there is a strong link between student motivation and

learning…[and] motivation plays a central role in the amount of time students will invest in their

learning” (Akhlaq, Chudhary, Malik, Saeed-ulHassan, & Mehmood, 2010, p. 41). When a

student is motivated in the classroom, he/she will want to learn what is being taught, pay

attention, participate and remain engaged with the classroom activities, and, therefore, be able to

later recall and apply the learned knowledge in future experiences because he/she would have

absorbed and retained the information. Therefore, it is important for teachers to recognize ways

to use motivation in the classroom to help students want to learn what is being taught.

Project Detail


The capstone project consists of discovering how motivational strategies teachers use can

positively impact students’ learning. A timeline was used by the Education Specialist to ensure

all components of the capstone project were completed as planned, which is noted in Appendix

A. In October of 2013, seventeen classroom lead teachers in a Bridgeport, CT preschool program

voluntarily completed two surveys that asked questions pertaining to motivational teaching

strategies, which helped the Education Specialist create and prepare a professional development

training on the topic for the program. The surveys are shown in Appendix B & C. The teachers

and classroom names have been kept confidential in the capstone project and professional

development training. The classrooms were given a fictitious name to keep the teachers and

classrooms’ identity confidential. The teachers were first given the definition of motivation to

ensure they had a clear understanding of what the word means in relation to education. One

survey asked teachers demographic information, such as how long they have been teaching and

their education level as well as how they motivate students, what specific strategies they use to

motivate students, which technique(s) they believe is the most beneficial for students to increase

their developmental progress, and why they think the specific strategy or strategies prove to be

the most beneficial. Teachers were also given a second survey that asked them to rate nine

specific motivational teaching strategies on a scale from one to nine, which came from the

strategies discussed in the literature review. Each strategy received a number one through nine;

each number was only used once. The number one was used for the teaching strategy that was

viewed as least important to implement in the classroom to motivate students and the number

nine was used to rate the teaching strategy that was viewed as highly important to implement in

the classroom to motivate students and improve students’ learning outcomes. The goal was to


discover which teaching strategy or strategies the teachers rate the highest and find to be the

most important to implement in the classroom.

The students were also participants in the study because the data collected came from the

teachers’ completed Creative Curriculum developmental checklists for each child in seventeen

classrooms. “The Creative Curriculum System for Preschool, [is] a research-based system…that

offers comprehensive resources to help early childhood educators build exceptional high-quality

programs” (Teaching Strategies, 2011, para. 1). The teachers completed the Creative Curriculum

checklists for each student by rating the child’s developmental benchmark in social emotional,

cognitive, language, and physical areas based on observations. The checklists were sent to a

specialist who totaled the scores to show the overall percentage for each classroom in each of the

four developmental areas. The child outcome reports that were used came from the 2012-2013

academic year due to time constraints. The class scores were evaluated to discover the

classrooms that have shown the highest developmental progress in May of 2013 in all four

developmental areas. There were two developmental outcome reports, which included one

report showing data for three year olds and one report showing data for four year olds. The two

reports were used to see the total percentages of development for each of the four areas for every

class and to discover the classes that have shown the most developmental progress. The reports

also included the average score for each developmental area as well as the data for Oct. 2012,

January 2013, and May of 2013. The data from May 2013 was analyzed for each developmental

area because this showed the developmental level of the students after being in the classroom for

an entire year. The program’s average score in each developmental area was compared to each

classroom’s score. If the class scored the same score or above the program’s average score in a

developmental area, the score was highlighted to track if a class met or exceeded the program’s


scores. If the class scored at or above average in all four developmental levels on both three and

four year old outcome reports, the classroom teacher was cited as implementing successful

teaching strategies. Therefore, the strategies these teachers stated in their surveys as important to

implement were cited as the most successful motivational strategies.

The Education Specialist evaluated the completed surveys that asked the teachers to rate nine

motivational teaching strategies on a scale from one to nine, which nine was rated as being the

most important strategy to implement. She evaluated the six surveys from the teachers whose

classrooms met or exceeded the program’s scores in the developmental reports. The Education

Specialist wrote down the strategy each teacher rated as number nine to see if there was one

strategy that was rated the most often as nine. Unfortunately, there were five different strategies

rated as number nine and only one strategy was rated as nine twice. Next, the Education

Specialist decided to see if there were any strategies rated similarly between the six teachers.

She wrote each number down, one through nine, and under each number she wrote the strategy

the teachers rated as that number. For example, she wrote down the number eight and listed all of

the strategies the teachers rated as a number eight, which would mean the teachers thought of the

strategy as second most important to implement. Unfortunately, there were very minimal

similarities of ratings for the nine ratings. Therefore, the Education Specialist decided to create

an Excel spreadsheet that would show the number each teacher gave for each strategy. She

labeled the strategies by giving them each a number, such as the first strategy mentioned on the

questionnaire was given a number one, which was used to identify the strategies. Under each

strategy, she wrote the number that the teacher wrote to rate the strategy and then added up all

the ratings under each strategy and the strategy that received the highest score was cited as the

most important strategy to implement, which was providing students with immediate feedback.


To analyze the results from the open-ended questionnaires, the Education Specialist wrote

down all of the teachers’ responses for each of the four questions. This was completed

separately for the six teachers who were cited as using successful teaching strategies as well as

for all sixteen teachers who completed the questionnaire. The Education Specialist summarized

the responses from the six teachers for each of the four questions on the open-ended

questionnaire. When analyzing all sixteen responses in the questionnaire, she highlighted the

teachers’ responses whose scores met or exceeded the program’s scores to see if there were any

similarities and/or differences between how the teachers whose scores met or exceeded the

program’s scores to the teachers whose scores were below the program’s scores. Reading

through the responses, there were only a few similarities and differences. For example, the

teachers’ whose scores were below the program’s scores, the teachers mentioned the word “fun”

more often in their responses than the teachers whose scores met or exceeded the program’s

scores.

The Education Specialist then decided to write down key words from each teacher’s response

and tally how many teachers from each group mentioned the response. She made three groups

for each question: Similarities (both groups mentioned key word) and two groups for

differences- Group B (teachers whose scores were below the program’s scores) and Group S

(teachers whose scores met or exceeded the program’s scores). As the Education Specialist

reflected on this data that was organized, she found that it was still difficult to pinpoint

commonalities or differences between the two groups. However, as she was evaluating their key

words/responses, she discovered that the key words could be grouped into two categories,

academic and social emotional. Every key word could be cited as either a strategy that would be

considered an academic technique or a social emotional technique. For example, a key word


would be cited as an academic technique if it could motivate students through the use of

materials or techniques geared towards students’ academic abilities and/or needs. A key word

would be cited as a social emotional technique if it influenced the child’s feelings or utilized the

emotions of the teachers, such as presenting material enthusiastically. This concept relates to

“extrinsic motivation [because it] refers to external sources of influence on a students’

motivation and is subdivided into socialization (interactions with and support from parents,

teachers and friends) and rewards (tangible and intangible incentives)” (Goodman et al., 2011, p.

374). The Education Specialist then wrote either an A (Academic) or SE (Social Emotional)

next to each word in each group. For each group, she calculated the percentage of responses that

were cited as an academic response.

The data collected was used to create professional development training for all of the teaching

staff to educate them on successful motivational teaching techniques, which will be implemented

into the program on January 8, 2014. A PowerPoint presentation was developed and will be

presented at the training, as well as published on the Education Specialist’s website,

www.teachertechniques.com. The presentation will be used in a future training to highlight the

information and data gathered from the study. The capstone project will benefit students and

teachers in the Education Specialist’s preschool program as well as educators around the globe.

The teachers in the Bridgeport preschool will be trained and educated on motivational teaching

strategies that are successful in improving student outcomes and preschool students will,

therefore, benefit because they will be provided with an optimal learning environment where

they can learn to the best of their ability.

Results

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After analyzing the project outcome reports, there were a total of six teachers out of seventeen

classrooms that either met or exceeded the program’s scores in all four developmental areas.

Therefore, the Education Specialist assessed these six teachers’ questionnaires that they

completed. Analyzing the demographic information collected by the six teachers, all of the

teachers have been teaching for at least four years, with an average of 13 years in the field of

early education. The responses from the open-ended questionnaires from the six teachers were

summarized for each of the four questions. A conclusion was developed based on all of the

responses from the four questions. Overall, teachers can motivate students by providing an

encouraging and positive developmentally appropriate, child-directed learning environment

where lessons are engaging, purposeful, and based on students’ interests and abilities. The

summary for each of the four questions as well as well as the conclusion is cited in Appendix D.

The Education Specialist listed the responses from all sixteen questionnaires that the teachers

completed for each of the four open-ended questions in an attempt to find differences and

similarities between the responses. Each teacher’s response is cited using key words that were

used in the teacher’s entire response. The numbers in parentheses next to a technique signifies

the number of teachers that mentioned the technique in their response. The responses were

categorized for each question in one of three groups, teachers who successfully met or exceeded

the program outcome scores in all four developmental areas, teachers whose developmental

outcome scores were below the program’s scores, or both groups cited the key word in their

responses. The percentage of academic techniques implemented was shown through percentages

for each group for each question. The results indicated that the teachers who met or exceeded

the program’s outcome scores used more academic techniques and less social emotional


techniques than the teachers who had scores below the program outcome scores. The data for

each question is cited in Appendix E.

The Education Specialist also cited each of the sixteen teacher’s responses to the four

questions as an academic technique, social emotional technique, or incorporating both academic

and social emotional techniques in his/her response. It was concluded that the teachers who met

or exceeded the program outcomes used more academic techniques to motivate students. The

teachers who scored below the program outcomes used more social emotional techniques to

motivate students. The data collected for each question is cited in Appendix F.

The six teachers who met or exceeded the program’s scores for all four developmental areas

in the outcome reports rated “providing students with immediate feedback” as the most

important strategy to implement in the classroom. The results of how each strategy was rated by

the six teachers as well as a bar graph visually displaying the results are noted in Appendix G.

Discussion

The results of this study indicate that providing students with immediate feedback as well as

implementing academic techniques have shown to improve students’ learning. In addition,

teachers can motivate students by providing an encouraging and positive developmentally

appropriate, child-directed learning environment where lessons are engaging, purposeful, and

based on students’ interests and abilities. These results are similar to the findings in previous

research conducted on successful motivational teaching strategies. Oche (2012) stated

“instructional technique via prompt feedback generally improves students’ achievement” (p.

377), which is consistent with the strategy that was rated as the most important to implement by

the six teachers who were shown to improve students’ learning in the present study. In addition,


Oche (2012) stated “prompt feedback strategy should always be used to arouse, sustain and

maintain interest of students” (p. 378). “Learners want engaging learning environments that

promote ‘direct interaction with… [teachers] and students’, ‘spontaneity’, ‘immediate

feedback’…” (Clayton, Blumberg, & Auld, 2010, p. 362). The Education Specialist supports the

findings from the present research study as well as the findings from previous research studies.

It is essential that teachers provide students with immediate feedback during activities based on

what they are doing to help the children progress in their learning. When students are given

immediate feedback, the students can alter or implement different strategies to complete a task.

Students can become more motivated when teachers are monitoring their progress because

teachers can provide positive reinforcement for their accomplishments and encouraging words to

engage in and complete challenging tasks.

The six teachers in the present study cited that it is beneficial to implement lessons that are

based on students’ interests, which is consistent with Boi Hoang, Sun Hee, & Yang (2010) who

stated that the materials that are implemented in the classroom motivate students when they are

“fun…unexpected…[and match] their interests and…daily life” (p. 348). Also, the six teachers

stated that students can become motivated through a child-directed learning environment. This

idea is similar to what Hein (2012) stated in his research, which is to provide students with

opportunities to become leaders in the classroom and make their own choices, which helps

teachers implement a “more open-ended and student-centered style (productive style) where the

teacher acts only as facilitator” (p. 14). The Education Specialist supports the findings from the

present study and previous research because when students are provided with activities that they

find interesting, students are more likely to become motivated to engage in activities in the


classroom. Therefore, the students will take a more active role in their learning and will be more

likely to remain engaged and interested in the activities and instruction.

In addition, the six teachers in the present study stated that lessons should be based on

students’ interests, which is similar to Yildirim’s (2012) findings that reinforced the importance

of teachers supporting the students’ intrinsic motivators (p.163). When a student is interested in

the concepts/ideas being taught, the students will become intrinsically motivated to further their

learning on the topic of study. Teachers should understand that some students are intrinsically

motivated in the classroom on specific topics or while participating in specific activities.

Goodman et al. (2011) found that students’ intrinsic motivation had a positive impact on

academic achievement (p. 383). Also, Acat & Dereli (2012) discovered in their study that when

“cognitive and lifelong learning goals motivation is very high, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

is high and negative factors for learning motivation is low” (p. 2670). This idea also relates to

Tella’s (2007) study, which helped to explain the two ways that students are motivated, either

intrinsically or extrinsically (p. 151).

Contribution to Education

This capstone project contributes to the Education Specialist’s educational context because it

has expanded on her knowledge of successful motivational strategies, which will be

implemented into preschool classrooms to improve students’ learning outcomes over time. She

has administered questionnaires to teachers in her Bridgeport preschool to discover which

specific motivational strategies are beneficial to students in the program, which will be taught to

teachers to implement program wide in the preschool. In turn, students will be provided with an

optimal learning environment when teachers implement the specific strategies found to improve


student achievement. Based on the findings from the project, professional development training

has been created and will be implemented to educate teachers in the Bridgeport preschool on the

specific strategies that have had a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes. Findings will

be discussed during the professional development training as well as posted on the Education

Specialist’s website, www.teachertechniques.com. The Education Specialist’s educational

context will be enhanced because when the teachers in her program implement the successful

motivational teaching strategies, the students’ learning outcomes will increase over time.

The capstone project will make a contribution to the education community at-large because

the specific successful motivational strategies will be shared with the teachers at the Bridgeport

preschool that has over one thousand preschool students enrolled as well as educators reading the

information online on her website. Teachers who are presented with the information on

successful motivational strategies will become knowledgeable of the specific techniques to

implement with preschool students to improve learning outcomes. Discovering motivational

strategies that can positively impact preschool students’ learning and citing the specific strategies

adds value to the field of education because there has been a lack of research conducted at the

preschool level. Educators will learn what they can implement and how they can implement the

techniques to improve their students’ academic abilities at the preschool level, which proves to

be a worthy and needed topic to be studied.

Contribution to Personal Skills

The capstone project has expanded on the Education Specialist’s professional skills because

she has learned from research and through surveys completed by preschool teachers what

specific motivational instructional strategies increase preschool students’ learning outcomes.


This project expands on the Education Specialist’s previous knowledge of successful teaching

strategies and she will, therefore, be able to educate colleagues and teachers in early education

on the specific techniques that can improve students’ learning outcomes. Her leadership skills

have improved because the information learned from the project has been implemented in her

professional development training. She built upon her leadership skills through planning and

conducting training for over two hundred teachers in her program. She will help the teachers

become more knowledgeable of the techniques that should be implemented as well as how they

can be integrated into lessons. The Education Specialist has taken the initiative to lead her

program in the implementation of successful teaching strategies and ensuring teachers are

educated on teaching practices that will result in higher student learning outcomes. The

Education Specialist has, therefore, achieved professional growth by learning the specific

motivational strategies that positively impact students’ learning and better understanding how

and why they should be implemented with students in the classroom.

Project Outcomes

The main outcomes of the capstone project will be to educate early education teachers on the

motivational instructional strategies that increase students’ learning outcomes. The Education

Specialist in a Bridgeport, CT preschool program developed professional development training

by using the information and data collected from her project. She will demonstrate leadership

skills in her program by training and educating over two hundred early education teaching staff

on successful motivational teaching strategies where over one thousand students are enrolled.

The Education Specialist has cited specific motivational teaching strategies that have shown to

be effective in increasing students’ developmental learning outcomes in the preschool program.

She will use the data collected to educate the staff through a PowerPoint presentation that


discusses the teaching strategies that should be implemented as well as how the techniques can

be implemented in the classroom successfully. The teachers will also expand on their knowledge

of successful motivational teaching strategies and learn the importance of implementing the

strategies to positively impact students’ learning. When all of the teachers are trained and

educated on the specific motivational strategies, the teachers will implement the strategies in the

classroom, which will have a positive impact on all of the students in the program by creating an

optimal learning environment where the children’s developmental learning outcomes will be

positively affected.

In addition, the Education Specialist has published the information and data collected on her

website, www.teachertechniques.com. This information can be viewed by educators who can

also learn what motivational teaching strategies have shown to have a positive impact on

students’ learning. Educators from around the globe can learn from the capstone project’s

findings which strategies have shown to increase students’ developmental learning outcomes and

how they can be specifically implemented. Teachers can then apply what they learned to

implement the strategies in their own professional learning environment. The goal of the

capstone project is to provide educators with information regarding specific motivational

instructional strategies that have shown to increase students’ learning outcomes. When the

educators implement the strategies into their own classroom, students from around the world will

be provided with an optimal learning environment where they can learn to the best of their

ability.

Key M.Ed. Outcomes

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The first key M. Ed. outcome that the Education Specialist has demonstrated she has met is to

“develop and demonstrate leadership thinking in critical areas of interest within [her] field” (Post

University, n.d., para. 3). The outcome was met because she created professional development

training for all of the teaching staff and will lead the teachers in implementing the motivational

teaching techniques into the classrooms that serve over one thousand students. The Education

Specialist has critically evaluated the data collected on motivation teaching strategies from the

surveys completed by the teachers in her program. She has evaluated the techniques to discover

the specific strategies that improve students’ learning.

In addition, prior to the professional development training, the Education Specialist reflected

on her program to decide what area needed improvement to enhance the preschool. The

Education Specialist discovered that the teaching strategies that the teachers implement can have

a direct impact on the way students learn which can also either positively or negatively impact

the students’ learning outcomes. The Education Specialist decided to become the leader of her

program to discover which teaching strategies can be shown as the most effective and increase

students’ developmental progress. In her program, she has taken the lead in transforming the

way instruction is implemented in the Bridgeport, CT preschool program by planning to train

staff on specific strategies that are essential to every classroom. When teachers implement the

strategies, they will be providing students with an optimal learning environment where students

can learn to the best of their ability.

In addition, the Education Specialist has published her findings regarding successful

motivational strategies on her website, www.teachertechniques.com, which demonstrates

leadership in the field of education because educators from around the globe can learn from the

research that she has conducted and implement the strategies in their own professional learning


environment. The Education Specialist can lead others from around the world in creating new

methods of instruction to improve students’ learning outcomes.

The second key M. Ed. outcome that the Education Specialist has demonstrated she has met is

“to apply the principles of cognitive science to teaching & learning to positively affect learning

and improve the practice of teaching” (Post University, n.d., para. 3). The outcome was met by

the Education Specialist because she researched motivational teaching strategies and discussed

how the strategies are essential for teachers to implement into the classroom in relation to

cognitive science. When the strategies are implemented they enhance students’ learning, which

involves students using critical thinking skills, such as logic and concepts to think about the

information being taught. Logic, rules, concepts, analogies, and images were discussed to

explain how cognitive science concepts relate to teaching strategies that improve students’

learning. These concepts were discussed in the capstone project as well as integrated into the

PowerPoint presentation that will be utilized during the professional development training for the

teachers in the Bridgeport preschool program and published on the Education Specialists’

website, www.teachertechniques.com. When educators are educated on the specific motivational

strategies that have shown to improve students’ learning, the practice of teaching will be

improved which will result in students’ learning and achievement to be positively affected.

The third key M. Ed. outcome that the Education Specialist has demonstrated she has met is

“to use selected advanced instructional strategies appropriate for specific learning outcomes”

(Post University, n.d., para. 4). The outcome was met by the Education Specialist because she

conducted research on motivational instructional strategies that have previously been

implemented and shown to have a positive impact on students’ learning. The Education

Specialist conducted her own study on motivational teaching strategies to discover specific


strategies that have shown to increase student achievement in a preschool program. The results

and findings from the study will be used to train and educate teachers on instructional strategies

that will have a positive influence on students’ developmental learning outcomes. The teachers

in her program will be trained on the specific strategies that should be implemented into the

program to increase student achievement. Also, the strategies were explained and published on

her website, www.teachertechniques.com, to educate teachers around the world on the specific

strategies that should be implemented to expand on educators’ knowledge of successful teaching

techniques as well as improve students’ learning when the techniques are implemented in the

classroom.

Technology

The technology that is within the scope of the project is a PowerPoint presentation that

describes the study that was conducted in the preschool program in Bridgeport, CT, the findings

from the study, the results, conclusions regarding motivational teaching strategies for students at

the preschool level, and integrates the principles of cognitive science and how they apply to

teaching and learning to positively affect learning and improve the practice of teaching. The

PowerPoint presentation will be utilized both in a professional development training for all of the

teachers in the preschool program in Bridgeport, CT as well as published online for educators

around the globe to view and learn from. The PowerPoint is published on the Education

Specialist’s website, www.teachertechniques.com, which was created from the knowledge

learned from Post University. The Education Specialist learned how to create an online

professional learning environment through using WordPress and Moodle. The website was

created through a culmination of the classes she has been enrolled in at Post University.


However, the PowerPoint presentation published on the website was created by the Education

Specialist’s previous knowledge of the program.

Project Evaluation

The project has been evaluated by ensuring that all three of the program and concentration

outcomes were met upon the completion of the project, which was assessed by completing a

rubric. In addition, the professional development training will be evaluated through a pre and

post questionnaire filled out by the teachers in the Education Specialist’s program to ensure that

all of the objectives are met when the training has been completed, which is shown in Appendix

K. Also, at the end of the 2013-2014 school year, the outcome reports will be evaluated by the

Education Specialist to assess whether the classrooms have shown a higher increase in

developmental achievement as compared to last year’s scores based on the Creative Curriculum

developmental checklists the teachers complete three times a year. A rubric was created for the

program and concentration outcomes, professional development training, and ongoing evaluation

of staff’s implementation of the motivational teaching strategies and results from the

developmental outcome reports. A rubric was created to ensure that all of the outcomes from the

capstone project are met, which is cited in Appendix L. The Education Specialist knew that she

has met all of the outcomes through the completion of the rubric at the conclusion of the project.

In addition, the Education Specialist will know she met all of the outcomes when she collects

and evaluates the pre and post questionnaires for the professional development training and

assesses the students’ learning outcomes at the end of the 2013-2014 school year when all of the

developmental outcome reports are complete.


An area of strength for this capstone project is that the findings from the current research

study conducted in the Education Specialist’s preschool program are consistent with the findings

from previous research conducted on successful motivational teaching strategies. The six

teachers who had students’ scores that met or exceeded the program’s scores in all four

developmental areas on the outcome reports used similar techniques to those who previously

researched successful strategies. The teachers cited specific techniques and the Education

Specialist was able to make connections between key words the teachers mentioned and the

strategies cited in the scholarly research studies.

In addition, the findings from this capstone project will lead the Education Specialist to

further explore the topic of motivational teaching strategies in her preschool program. She will

work with and support teachers on using specific motivational strategies and track the teacher’s

progress on the implementation of the techniques. Also, the Education Specialist will track the

students’ scores in the outcome reports to discover teachers who are consistently showing

students’ scores meeting or exceeding the program’s scores in all four developmental areas.

Therefore, this capstone project will help improve the teaching techniques that teachers

implement in the classroom, which will lead to students’ improved learning over time.

Conclusion

This research study helped to explore and discover specific motivational strategies that

improve students’ learning. There has been a lack of research studies conducted on motivational

teaching strategies, specifically at the preschool age level. “Clearly, motivational beliefs and

learning strategies influence academic outcomes. However, research addressing learners’

motivation and learning strategies in the selection of a particular learning environment remains


limited” (Clayton, Blumberg, & Auld, 2010, p. 351). The findings from this study discovered

that implementing immediate feedback and academic teaching strategies as well as providing an

encouraging and positive developmentally appropriate, child-directed learning environment

where lessons are engaging, purposeful, and based on students’ interests and abilities can

improve students’ learning. Therefore, this research study has added value to the field of

education because educators can learn specific motivational strategies that have shown to

enhance students’ learning. In addition, the research study was conducted in a preschool

program, which will help educators in this grade level learn what they can implement as well as

how they can implement the techniques to improve their students’ academic abilities.

To further research the topic of motivational teaching strategies, the Education Specialist will

continue to track the teachers’ use of motivational teaching techniques throughout the year. The

Education Specialist will use a form to track the motivational teaching strategies that the teachers

implement into the classroom, which is shown in Appendix H. The form will track the strategy

the teacher implemented, how the strategy was implemented, if the strategy was successful, and

ideas for improvements for each classroom teacher for each month of the school year. The

Education Specialist will use a tracking sheet for each month of the year as shown in Appendix I.

The form will track the assistance and support, follow-up, the date of follow-up and if the

follow-up has been completed for the month. In addition, the Education Specialist will use a

tracking sheet to organize and collect data for the results from the Developmental Outcome

Reports as shown in Appendix J. The form lists each classroom for each outcome report and

separates the scores for each of the four developmental areas, which are social emotional,

cognitive, language, and physical.


In addition, based on the findings in the current study, the researcher can further research

motivational teaching strategies by analyzing whether students are motivated by intrinsic

motivation or extrinsic motivation. The current research study found that the teachers whose

students’ scores met or exceeded the program’s scores used more academic techniques rather

than social emotional techniques. It would be beneficial to discover whether the techniques that

were cited by the teachers could be cited as either intrinsic or extrinsic motivators. “Intrinsic

motivation is seen as internal reward, while extrinsic motivation is incentive or reward that a

person can enjoy after he finishes his work” (Tella, 2007, p. 151). For example, the teachers

mentioned prizes as a way to motivate students, which would be an example of extrinsic

motivation.

A limitation of the study was that the outcome reports that were analyzed were for one school

year. It would be beneficial to study the outcome reports for the preschool program for at least

three consecutive years to observe and analyze the students’ scores to track the classrooms that

consistently have students’ scores in all developmental areas that meet or exceed the program’s

scores. If there are specific classroom teachers that consistently improve students’ learning

outcomes, it would be beneficial to further study their specific motivational strategies that

improve students’ learning.


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Appendix A

Capstone Project Timeline

Week 1 & 2:

Administer two surveys to seventeen teachers in the preschool program in Bridgeport, CT.

Inform teachers the surveys are voluntary and will be used to collect data on motivational

teaching strategies implemented in the program, which will be used to create training for all

of the teachers.

Week 3:

Analyze and evaluate the data from the teaching surveys as well as the three outcome

reports from the 2012-2013 school year.

Specific motivational teaching strategies that were used in classrooms that showed the

highest developmental progress in the developmental outcome reports will be cited as

successful motivational teaching techniques.

Week 4:

Create conclusions from the findings from the capstone project and cite specific

motivational teaching strategies that have shown to have a positive impact on students’

learning in the preschool program.

Week 5 & 6:


Create a PowerPoint presentation that incorporates the research, findings, and conclusions

from the capstone project, which will be used for professional development training on

motivational teaching strategies for all of the teachers in the preschool program.

Week 7 & 8:

Write the capstone project and finalize all of the components to ensure the written

assignment is completed prior to the last day of class on EDU 699.


Appendix B

Motivation QuestionnaireName: ________________________________________ Date: _________________________________

Site: __________________________________ Classroom: ____________________________

Years in the field of early education: ____________________

Highest degree earned: _______________________________

Subject area/Major degree earned in: _________________________

Year earned degree: __________________________________

Currently attending school? Yes ___________ No _____________ If yes, degree working towards is ___________________________________________

Definition of motivation as stated by Merriam-Webster (2013): "The act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something: the act or process of motivating someone…The condition of being eager to act or work…A force or influence that causes someone to do something" (para. 1).

Reference:Merriam-Webster. (2013). Merriam-Webster: Motivation . Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation

How do you motivate students in the classroom?

What specific strategy or strategies do you use to motivate students?

What specific strategy/technique do you believe has the most positive impact on your students' learning outcomes and developmental progress?

Why do you think the specific strategy or strategies prove to be the most beneficial for your students?


Appendix C

Second Survey on Motivational Teaching Strategies

Please rate the following motivational teaching strategies on a scale from one to nine, using each number only once. Rating a strategy as a number one means the strategy is the least important to implement in the classroom.Rating a strategy as a number nine means the strategy is the most important to implement in the classroom.

__________ Choosing effective materials and classroom arrangements

__________ Providing child-centered activities

__________ Integrating students' interests

__________ Supporting students' intrinsic motivators

__________ Implementing activities that meet the learning preferences of the students

__________ Being aware of the students' learning needs and abilities

__________ Challenging students based on their capabilities

__________ Connecting classroom concepts to students' experiences

__________ Providing students with immediate feedback


Appendix D

Open-Ended Questionnaire Summary for Six Teachers with Successful Student Outcomes


By making learning: Fun, exciting, interesting, interactive, and child-friendly.

By providing: Encouragement, positive reinforcement, one-on-one support, praise, and age-

appropriate activities and materials based on abilities.


By being: Energized, enthusiastic, positive, engaging, and encouraging.

By implementing: Small group activities, one-on-one support, rhyming books, praise, and

feedback.

What specific strategy/technique do you believe has the most positive impact on your

students’ learning outcomes and developmental progress?

By implementing: Encouragement, positive learning environment with age-appropriate materials

and activities, specific feedback and praise, activities related to students’ interests, positive teacher

attitude, new concepts into instruction, interactive stories, and support to increase students’ self-

help skills.

Why do you think the specific strategy or strategies prove to be the most beneficial for your

students?


When topics are interesting, students are more likely to be engaged and learn. When students are

presented with choices and opportunities to make their own decisions, students are more likely to

be motivated. When strategies target a specific goal or developmental domain, it enhances the

children’s developmental skills. The strategies are meaningful and purposeful. Students’ ideas can

influence teaching. When teachers show they care about students, children recognize attitudes and

are motivated to learn.

Conclusion:

Overall, teachers can motivate students by providing an: Encouraging and positive

developmentally appropriate, child-directed learning environment where lessons are engaging,

purposeful, and based on students’ interests and abilities.


Appendix E

Summary (Citing Differences and Similarities) of all 16 teacher responses in the open-ended

questionnaire (one teacher chose not to respond to the questions).

Each teacher’s response is cited using key words that were used in the teacher’s entire response.

Therefore, the techniques exceed the amount of responses. For example, one teacher cited 3 social

emotional techniques and one academic technique in her entire response. The three key words

were tallied as social emotional techniques and one academic technique.

The numbers in parenthesis next to a technique signifies the number of teachers that mentioned the

technique in their response.

SE: Social Emotional Technique

A: Academic Technique

(B): Teachers whose scores were below the program’s outcome scores.

(A): Teachers whose scores met or exceeded the program’s outcome scores in all four

developmental areas.

1. How do you motivate students in the classroom?

Differences:

Teachers who successfully met or exceeded the program outcome scores in all four

developmental areas:


A Match ability level

A Make the activity colorful

A Interactive activity

A Through literacy

A Child-friendly

A Materials are accessible

SE Enthusiasm

A Hands-on support

Percentage of academic techniques implemented: 7/8= .875= 88%

Teachers whose developmental outcome scores were below the program’s scores:

SE Nurture

SE Build positive relationships

A Keep students involved

SE Interests (3)

A Easy

A Challenge

SE Prizes (2)


SE Smiling

SE Feedback

A Music

SE Exciting (2)

SE Playing (2)

SE Toys (2)

SE Talk about family


Similarities:

(S): Teachers whose scores successfully met or exceeded program outcome scores

(B): Teachers whose scores were below program outcome scores

SE Encouragement 3 (B), 2 (S)

SE Praise 5 (B), 2 (S)

SE Fun 4 (B), 1 (S)

SE Interesting 1(B), 1 (S)

SE Positive reinforcement 1(B), 2 (S)

SE Talking to students 1 (B), 1 (S)


A Modeling 1 (B), 1 (S)

Percentage of academic techniques implemented: (B) 1/26= .038= .04= 4%

Percentage of academic techniques implemented: (A) 1/26= .038= .04= 4%

There were a total of 15 Social Emotional Techniques that group B used.

There were a total of 9 Social Emotional Techniques that group A used.

2. What specific strategy or strategies do you use to motivate students?

Differences:



SE Be energized

SE Enthusiastic

SE Talk to students

A One on one/small groups

A Literacy

SE Praise

A Provide feedback




SE Warm environment

SE Responsive environment

A Change the learning environment (2)

SE Make learning exciting

SE Social emotional teaching strategies/feelings (2)

SE Making learning fun (2)

A Music/songs (3)

A Puppets

A Variety of materials

A Fingers to count

A Start the activity

SE Interesting activities

SE Colorful activities

SE Students’ interests (2)


Similarities:




SE Encourage 1(B), 4 (S)

SE Positive 1(B), 1 (S)

SE Engaging 1(B), 2 (S)

Percentage of academic techniques implemented: (B) 0%

Percentage of academic techniques implemented: (A) 0%



3. What specific strategy/technique do you believe has the most positive impact on your


Differences:



SE Be energized

A Age-appropriate materials

A Learn new concepts


A Literacy

A Learn through play



A Consistency in the classroom

SE Positive feedback

SE Share information common with child

SE Patience/understanding

SE Students’ interests

A Sing songs


Similarities:



SE Encouragement 1 (B), 1 (S)

SE Praise 2 (B), 2 (S)

SE Positive attitude/atmosphere 2 (B), 1 (S)


SE Interactions with children 1 (B), 1 (S)





4. Why do you think the specific strategy or strategies prove to be the most beneficial for

your students?

Differences:



A Concepts are motivating

SE Students sense their teachers’ hard work

A Strategies are meaningful and purposeful

A Learning specific goal that enhances developmental skills

A Limitless abilities

A Have choices/ make own decisions




SE Feel important and loved (2)

A Keep them involved

A Like changes

SE Mix work with fun

A Curious to learn more

A Chose effective materials

SE Motivated teacher

SE Attention

A Practice

SE Child is happy

A Music/songs


Similarities:



SE Students’ interests 2(B), 2 (S)






Conclusion:

Overall, the teachers who met or exceeded the program’s outcome scores used more

academic techniques and less social emotional techniques than the teachers who had scores

below the program outcome scores.


Appendix F

Summary of all Responses in Open-Ended Survey, 16 responses for each question (one

teacher chose not to respond to the questions)

Responses in bold are from the six teachers who had met or exceeded program scores in all

four developmental areas for three and four year olds in the developmental outcome reports.

SE: Social Emotional Technique

A: Academic Technique

(B): Teachers whose scores were below the program’s outcome scores.

(A): Teachers whose scores met or exceeded the program’s outcome scores in all four

developmental areas.


SE Encouragement, praise behavior, nurture, support their needs, build positive relationships

with every child in class

SE Keep them involved, find out their interests

SE Make it fun and easy for the children. Challenge the children all the time. Praise them all

the time- prizes every Friday.

SE Modeling, smiling, and discussing the fun that will come. Encouraging the child from start

to finish in an activity. By praising the child when done.


SE/A Use frequent positive feedback to support students. The use of music in areas.

SE/A Making the lesson fun and exciting. Encouraging them to do their best. Doing

something at their level that is not so easy and not so difficult. Make the lesson interesting.

SE Making all activities fun and exciting.

SE/A Praising, sticker chart, singing songs, playing, prize box, toys.

A Making the activity colorful and interactive and through literacy.

SE Using positive reinforcement, showing them that if they do things well the teachers will

give praise and love.

SE Talking to students, giving toys they like, encouraging conversations and play time, finding

out what they enjoy doing, talk about family.

SE Motivational words, positive words, you can do it. Always use a positive tone. One on

one words work well when the child is having some difficulty.

SE/A Establish a child friendly environment, make all materials accessible, demonstrate

variety of the way materials can be used, present materials with enthusiasm.

SE/A Encouragement and praises, emphasize all efforts made by the students, provide

hands-on support to students.

SE Praising their behavior.

SE/A Sing songs that get them motivated. Do fun and interesting activities that the children are

interested in doing.


Results for Techniques:

Academic: (B) 0, (S) 1

Social Emotional: (B) 7, (S)2

Academic & Social Emotional: (B) 3, (S) 3

The teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores used more academic

techniques than the teachers who scored below the program outcome scores.

The teachers who scored below the program outcome scores used more social emotional

techniques than the teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores.

Each group of teachers listed 3 techniques that were considered both academic and social

emotional techniques.


SE Providing a warm and responsive environment: changing the learning environment

frequently to keep children engaged, making learning exciting, using social emotional teaching

strategies, be able to identify feelings of self and others.

SE/A Making learning fun and using music and making up songs, using puppets.

A When teaching the children numbers, use their fingers to count. Use a variety of materials,

change the materials according to the theme of the month.

SE/A Start the activity so the child can join in, encourage the child to join the teacher, make the

activities interesting, colorful and fun.


SE Create an open and positive atmosphere.

SE Being energized, showing enthusiasm, and positive attitude while presenting the

lesson, and also engaging students.

SE Taking into account the students’ interests and make learning fun.

A Sing songs in the morning to really motivate students, it wakes them up and they feel good.

SE Encourage their strengths.

SE Ask students about feelings.

SE Cook, build, paint, color together with the students. Use different techniques that the child

enjoys doing, interact with the child.

SE/A Talk to the student, encourage them to try a project and finish a project. Use one on

one or small groups.

SE/A Story time/circle time, change voice tone to connect with characters, use rhyming

books, engage children in the story by inserting their names or reenact the story.

SE If a child has little confidence in completing a task, verbally encourage child to try the

activity. Once child has attempted, praise his/her effort.

SE/A Encourage children and provide feedback.

SE/A Sing songs and try to make the activities relate to the kids and grab their attention.


Academic: (B)2, (S)0


Social Emotional: (B)5, (S) 3


The teachers who scored below the program outcome scores used more academic techniques

than the teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores.





What specific strategy/technique do you believe has the most positive impact on your


SE/A Consistency in the classroom with routines, transitions, staff interactions with children and

providing positive feedback all the time. Share information about yourself in common with child.

SE When encouraging them and giving them praise. Having a positive attitude and

atmosphere.

SE/A Using different materials, choose the materials the children like and are interested in.

A Using open-ended questions for understanding how, what, when, why and but.

SE Keeping a positive atmosphere.

SE Student interest, teacher’s attitude, and encouragement.

SE/A Make learning fun and make sure all activities are age appropriate.


SE Praise- everyone wants to know how good they are doing.

SE/A Positive learning environment that has age appropriate materials and activities.

SE Be patient, understanding the child.

SE Depends on the child-what he or she likes to do. Every child is different.

SE/A Children are happy and excited when they do and learn something new, not just

saying they did a good job and walk away, but praise their work.

A Reenacting a simple silly song or fingerplay, such as Jack be Nimble or the Three

Billy Goat Gruff. Teacher directed activities have to be age appropriate.

SE Assuring them every effort counts and is accepted.

SE/A Learn through play. Help them with self-help skills, describe what children can do to

progress their strengths.

A Singing songs has the most positive impact.


Academic: (B)2, (S) 2

Social Emotional: (B) 5, (S) 2


The teachers who scored below the program outcome scores used an equal amount of

academic techniques as the teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores.






Why do you think the specific strategy or strategies prove to be the most beneficial for your

students?

SE Children need to feel important and loved.

SE/A When you find out children’s’ interests and keep them involved, you will find out that

learning is more fun for them. You will feel good about what you are teaching to the children

when you see what you are doing works for your students.

SE/A Children like changes and they like to have more fun than working, it’s better to mix work

with fun.

A Children will learn from the process, become knowledgeable of the activity and become

curious to learn more.

SE/A Integrating students’ interests and choose effective materials.

SE Students are more likely to learn if the topic is interesting to them.

A See the students learning and comprehending for the strategies.

SE If a teacher is motivated, he/she brings the best out of his/her students.


A When students concepts are a motivating influence.

SE/A Lots of love, attention, and practice.

SE Makes the child happy.

SE Students can sense the teacher cares about their hard work they have put in.

A Each strategy targets a specific goal or domain that enhances the child/children

developmental skills. Each strategy has to be meaningful and purposeful.

A Students don’t have a limit on the use of their own abilities.

SE/A When children do what they like to do, they do it well and also when they have

choices and make their own decisions.

A Children love music and songs because they are easy to remember, such as the ABC’s song

in which children learn their ABC’s from the song.


Academic: (B) 3, (S) 3

Social Emotional: (B) 3, (S) 2


The teachers who scored below the program outcome scores used an equal amount of

academic techniques as the teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores.




The teachers who scored below the program outcome scores used four techniques that were

considered both academic and social emotional. The teachers who met or exceeded the

program outcome scores used one technique that was considered both academic and social

emotional.

Conclusion:

Overall, the teachers who met or exceeded the program outcome scores used more academic

techniques to motivate students.


techniques to motivate students.


Appendix G

Data for six teachers who met and/or exceeded program scores in developmental outcome report

Strategy Number1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Teacher 1 7 4 1 8 5 2 6 3 9Teacher 2 8 7 3 2 9 6 4 1 5Teacher 3 5 8 9 7 3 1 2 6 4Teacher 4 3 2 1 6 5 9 4 7 8Teacher 5 1 2 4 7 3 9 5 8 6Teacher 6 9 8 7 3 1 6 4 2 5Total for each strategy 33 31 25 33 26 33 25 27 37

Strategies Identified by Number_____1_____ Choosing effective materials and classroom arrangements

_____2_____ Providing child-centered activities

_____3_____ Integrating students' interests (Cited as least important to implement)

_____4_____ Supporting students' intrinsic motivators

_____5____ Implementing activities that meet the learning preferences of the students

_____6_____ Being aware of the students' learning needs and abilities

_____7_____ Challenging students based on their capabilities (Cited as least important to implement)

_____8_____ Connecting classroom concepts to students' experiences

_____9____ Providing students with immediate feedback (Cited as most important to implement)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 905

10152025303540

Total for each strategy

Total for each strategy

Appendix H


Motivational Teaching Strategies Implemented into ClassroomsMonth: JanuaryClassroom Strategy Implemented How was the strategy implemented? Has the strategy been successful? Ideas for improvements?

123456789

10

(This form will be completed for each month.)

Appendix I


Motivational Instructional StrategiesMonth: JanuaryClassroom Provided Assistance and Support Follow-Up Needed Date of Follow-Up Follow-Up Completed

123456789

10

(This form will be completed each month.)

Appendix J


Tracking Form for Results from Developmental Outcome ReportsProgram Year 2013-2014

Classroom 1st Outcome ReportSocial Emotional Cognitive Language Physical

123456789

10

Classroom 2nd Outcome ReportSocial Emotional Cognitive Language Physical

123456789

10

Classroom 3rd Outcome ReportSocial Emotional Cognitive Language Physical

123456789

10


Appendix K

(Questionnaire will be provided to teachers one week prior to professional development training

to assist with any additional information that should be included based on teachers’ prior

knowledge and what they would like to know about motivational teaching strategies.)

Name: _____________________________________

Pre Professional Development Questionnaire

What do you already know about motivational teaching strategies?

What does it mean to use motivational instructional strategies?

Can you name three ways cognitive skills can be applied to teaching and learning?

Can you list five motivational instructional strategies to implement in a preschool classroom?

Why is it important to implement motivational instructional strategies in the classroom?

What do you want to learn or know about motivational teaching strategies?


Name: _______________________________________________________

Post Professional Development Questionnaire

What have you learned about motivational teaching strategies?

What does it mean to use motivational instructional strategies?

Can you name three ways cognitive skills can be applied to teaching and learning?

Can you list five motivational instructional strategies to implement in a preschool classroom?

Why is it important to implement motivational instructional strategies in the classroom?

Name a motivational instructional strategy you can implement in your classroom and describe

how you will implement it.

Do you have any questions regarding motivational teaching strategies?


Appendix L

Rubric to assess if met all three program and concentration outcomes:

Did the education specialist “develop and demonstrate leadership thinking in critical areas of

interest within [her] field” (Post University, n.d., para. 3)?

Collected data through surveys from at least ten lead teachers in the Bridgeport, CT preschool

program on motivational teaching strategies used by the teachers. __X___yes _____no

Collected data through surveys from at least ten lead teachers in the Bridgeport, CT preschool

program on how teachers rate specific motivational strategies on a scale from one through nine.

_X____yes _____no

Evaluated and assessed each teacher’s feedback from the surveys and discovered which

motivational teaching strategies were cited as the most beneficial. _X____yes _____no

Assessed developmental outcome reports for the Bridgeport, CT preschool program for the year

2012-2013 to discover the classes with the highest developmental progress and cited the

classroom strategies as successful motivational strategies as stated in surveys.

_X____yes _____no

Created a professional development training based on the research the Education Specialist

conducted through journal articles, completed surveys, and developmental outcome reports.

_X____yes _____no


Created a questionnaire to be used before and after the professional development training to

assess if the teachers benefited from the training.

_X____yes _____np

Created an ongoing assessment tracking tool to use consistently with the teachers throughout the

year to ensure teachers are implementing motivational teaching strategies discussed in the

professional development training.

_X____yes _____no

Created an assistance and support tracking sheet to ensure teachers are provided with ongoing

feedback regarding the motivational strategies they are implementing.

_X____yes _____no

Did the Education Specialist “apply the principles of cognitive science to teaching & learning to

positively affect learning and improve the practice of teaching” (Post University, n.d., para. 3)?

Created professional development training for the teaching staff in the Bridgeport, CT preschool

that integrates the principles of cognitive science and applied them to teaching and learning to

positively affect learning and improve the practice of teaching. __X___yes _____no

In the rationale of the capstone project, explained how the principles of cognitive science relate

to teaching and learning and when applied will positively affect learning and improve the

practice of teaching. __X___yes _____no


Did the Education Specialist “use selected advanced instructional strategies appropriate for

specific learning outcomes” (Post University, n.d., para. 4)?

Cited specific motivational instructional strategies in the professional development training

based on research, feedback from surveys completed by teachers, and data from outcome reports

in the Bridgeport, CT preschool. __X___yes _____no

Set a tentative date to train teaching staff in the Bridgeport, CT preschool on specific

motivational teaching strategies that have shown to positively impact students’ learning

outcomes.

_X____yes _____no

Published research, evaluation, and conclusions on specific motivational teaching strategies on

the Education Specialist’s website, www.teachertechniques.com.

_X___yes _____no

Reference:

Post University. (n.d). M.Ed. Program Outcomes.

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