Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example

e (1990) reported that researchers generally ignored the importance of ‘motivation and individual differences’ in their bid to understand cognition, he asserts that college lecturers must consider these two concepts in their delivery of the various subject matter. Thus, he stressed the need for lecturers to consider not only students’ acquisition of knowledge but also their motivation to continue learning even after their college days are ended. He therefore advocated life long learning as a major aim of the college education system.

Three underlying factors utilized by Mc Keachie (1990) and his associates to analyze cognitive psychology and motivation theory include firstly, the pre-knowledge that students bring to their learning experiences, secondly, the issue of ‘deep versus surface processing’ of learning which is determined by students active involvement in the learning process and thirdly, the importance of nurturing the intrinsic motivation of the learner. Specifically, Mc Keachie (1990) and his associates investigated the ‘learning strategies and motivational characteristics’ of students enrolled in Biology, English, Psychology or Sociology at three different colleges.(130) Special emphasis was paid to the rudiments of research in a natural setting.

In general, the authors focused on the interest and achievement level of anxious students. The researchers concluded in spite of their inability to over-generalize due to the small sample size that supportive structures were needed early in the course and assistance must be given to students to develop effective learning strategy and study skills.(138) Furthermore, Mc Keachie (1990) posits that three items are of major importance in the teaching and maintenance/improvement of the motivation level of students, namely, finding out ‘what is in the mind of the learner’, the identification of ‘key concepts and their relationships’ and ‘student self-efficacy in mobilizing energies for