In this video, posted yesterday on the TED blog, Daniel Pink explains the science of motivation. One of the themes of the talk that stands out is the idea that “this for that” motivation techniques often do not work. I found this interesting because that is a technique that some teachers try with their students. So what is an effective motivation technique? Giving people autonomy and projects that they are vested-in is a much better motivation technique. Can these ideas be applied to education? I hope so.

Applications for Education
This talk is centered on motivation as it relates to employees, but the ideas could be adapted for an education setting. The ideas in the video could help teachers in their efforts to motivate students. The ideas could also influence how school administrators relate to teachers.

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