Learning can be a lifelong endeavour if you love the process of learning itself. The excitement of discovering a new topic, the deep-diving into the concepts, making mistakes and feeling distraught and uncomfortable with your learning, and still persevering, so that one day, you can achieve what is referred to as mastery. 

This may seem like an abstract concept. However, we can learn something about learning from a rather unlikely source - movies. Let’s look at a movie that was released in 2009 - 3 Idiots. 
There are several memorable moments in this movie. But from a learning perspective, you can clearly observe two schools of thought. 

Extrinsic Motivation to Learning

The first method of approaching learning was the ‘Chatur Ramalingam’ way. Memorise, memorise, understand whatever is necessary, and memorise some more. Although, there are instances where this method may work, but in the long run, the effects can be catastrophic. Remember when we laughed out loud when Chatur gave a disastrous speech in Hindi without understanding the essence of it? 

In my mind, Chatur’s character can be thought of as the poster boy for extrinsically motivated learning. In general, extrinsic motivation represents the drive to achieve external rewards, such as money or social status. We often think of learning as a stepping stone to going higher in the ladder of success. Our goals are usually related to the next big competitive examination, the next big assessment that would get you the best grade, and the next big job that would make your life a roaring success.
Is there another way of looking at learning? Of falling in love with learning? 

Intrinsic Motivation to Learning

Let’s look at the protagonist of 3 Idiots - Ranchoddas Chanchad or Chote or Phhunsuk Wangdu.



You can never forget the monologue ‘gyaan’ that he gives to his friends. He says that the reason why he does so well in the course is because he genuinely enjoys it. And that’s the main characteristic of an intrinsically motivated learner. Intrinsic motivation represents the inner drive or passion people have to excel in a particular pursuit.  
 
Think about any activity that you excel at. It could be a recipe that you have perfected over time, or a kind of puzzle that you solve everyday in the newspaper. You do it simply because the activity gives you joy. And you continue doing it, because with all the practice, you’re pretty good at it too!

Now, what if we think of tying this back to learning in our classrooms. When teaching students, there are instances when we cannot do away with extrinsically motivated learning. When trying to learn and understand the basic concepts in any subject, the first step would very often be memorising some topics. It is easier to build on our existing knowledge if we do not have to hunt for definitions and terms, right? 

So, in such cases, consider assessments and questions to test definitions, spellings, grammar, theory, and so on. And rewards for these tests can be titles like ‘Genius of the Week’ or small tokens of appreciation like ribbons or certificates. You can even ask some of these students to talk in front of the whole class about how they learnt the concepts. Recognition is key!

Now comes the slightly more complex part. Getting students to be intrinsically motivated to learn, to make them fall in love with the process of learning. But, there’s another hurdle to be crossed - fear. 

This brings me to another character from 3 Idiots - Raju Rastogi. He is interested in the course, and yet is unable to score well.

 

Why? Because he’s weighed down by expectations and is so scared to make mistakes, that he loses sight of how much he actually likes learning. 
Many students may have mental blocks about subjects because they are afraid to fail. Removing fear is the first step to be taken when aiming to instill love for a subject. 

As teachers and educators, we need to make students understand that even though tests are important, they are not the end of the world. Open dialogue with the students, talking to them to understand pain points and helping them figure out their most comfortable way of learning is paramount. Feedback is key!

Finally, how do we ensure our classrooms - physical or online, support more intrinsically motivated learning? 

Before we bombard our students with a lot of information, we should allow them to think about what they have learnt. What does a concept mean to them, how did they learn it, what examples helped them learn better, and so on. These can be done online through asynchronous sessions, where the teacher is available to clear doubts, and the students are free to read and discuss learnings through forums.

In my mind, a lot of the intrinsically motivated learning can be achieved through creative assignments. The assignments should typically contain application, evaluation, and creation-based work. For instance, if it’s a Mathematics class, the application-based problems could include a combination of a few previously learnt concepts in the same assignment. For evaluation, students could ask doubts in class, that can be cleared out by students themselves in the presence of the instructor. Students can also review each others’ essays or assignments and give suggestions/ feedback to one another. 

Finally, creation-based assignments could include making charts, presentations or even allowing groups of students to teach a chapter or parts of a chapter to the rest of the class. This would help students revise their concepts, and also help them structure their learning in a better manner. 

As we make learners more intrinsically motivated, it is believed that they would fall in love with the process of learning itself. They would not be afraid to ask pertinent questions and would not doubt themselves before exploring the depths of a subject.

Teachers have the amazing opportunity and arguably the most difficult responsibility of shaping young minds. By striking a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learning, we may be able to help students take control of their learning even when they have stepped out of the classrooms and into the world.