Invitations, Sustaining Engagement, and Cultivating Motivation

Invitations

One way we can think about drawing learners in is through the concept of "invitations." When a design has good "invitations," that means it is inviting to a diverse set of learners. We can support this by catering to a diverse set of interests. For example, we can include game-like elements to draw in learners who are gamers. To help do this, we can consider different user personas. This is a perspective-taking exercise, where we can consider different possible types of learners, and imagine how they would interact with the learning environment, and what would be inviting to them.

In my Accessible and Inclusive Design course, we talked about facilitating engagement. One of the 3 Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is "Provide Multiple Means of Engagement." There is variation among all learners, meaning that not all learners are going to be excited by the same things. Therefore, we should not design as if all learners are interested in the same things. We need to provide multiple pathways to engagement to support this variation among learners. This is another way to think about offering "invitations" to different types of learners.

When designing for informal STEM learning environments in the future, I will draw on my insights about "invitations." I am interested in helping a variety of learners become interested in STEM topics. To do so, I must provide "invitations" for a diverse set of learners. As I design for these contexts in the future, I will consider various user personas, and strive to make my designs inviting and engaging for a variety of learners. I am especially interested in ensuring that there are invitations for learners who may not typically see themselves as scientists or engineers.

Sustaining Engagement

In addition, I learned about sustaining engagement throughout the learning experience. It is not enough to provide an "invitation" or "hook" at the beginning, but instead we must make sure that learners are engaged and motivated throughout the experience. One way we can support sustained engagement is by helping learners to see the real-world connection of what they are learning. This helps learners to see the "why" of what they are learning. If learners are able to see how this content will help them in the future, they are more likely to be motivated to learn.

For example, in my Parachute project, I included a "Case Library" of real-world parachute designs. By including these examples, learners are able to see how the parachutes they are designing from fabric and string relate to parachutes in the real world.

In the future, I will use what I have learned about sustaining engagement to improve my designs for informal STEM learning environments. I will make sure that learners are able to see the real-world connection of the STEM topic they are learning. This is especially important for learners who may not typically identify with STEM—if they are able to see this real-world connection, they may become more interested in learning about STEM topics. This connects to my personal interests, as I am interested in helping a variety of young learners to engage with STEM.

Cultivating Motivation

During my Spring semester, I took a course on Motivation in Educational Contexts. We learned that autonomy, competence, and relatedness/belonging are psychological needs. When learners have all three of these things, they are more likely to be motivated to learn. A need for autonomy means that learners have choice, and feel that they are in control of their learning. A need for competence means that learners need to feel like they are learning and making progress. If learners do not feel competent, they may become overly discouraged, and less motivated to learn. A need for relatedness/belonging means that learners need to feel that they are understood. Relatedness/belonging can be fulfilled by having a close relationship with the teacher, or with peers. A good relationship with others in the learning space can foster psychological safety, or feeling like it is okay to speak one's mind, and not feeling overly anxious about performance. Relatedness can also be fulfilled by showing learners that people like them are able to succeed. This may be especially important for learners who do not feel represented in the field of study—for example girls or minorities, when studying STEM.

In the future, I will use what I have learned about motivation to improve my designs for informal STEM learning environments. In many of these environments, participation in an activity is entirely optional for the learner. When learners enter a science museum, they may choose which activities they wish to participate in. Because of this, it is important to foster motivation for these learners. They must be motivated to engage with the activity in order to learn from it.