Traditional Toys and Student Motivation and Commitment in Technological Education

Abstract

Technological Education is a subject where students acquire knowledge and technical skills, which will enable them to analyse and resolve specific situations and will prepare them for an increasingly technological world. This course requires students to gain knowledge and know-how such that motivation and commitment are crucial for the development of classroom projects and activities. It is in this context that traditional toys come up in this study as catalysts for motivation and student interest. Thus, the aim of the research performed is to understand whether the units of work related to traditional toys promote the students’ motivation and commitment on Technological Education. In terms of methodology, we carried out an exploratory research of qualitative nature, based on semi-structured interviews with teachers and students in the 2nd cycle of basic education at five schools in the municipality of Viseu, Portugal. Nine teachers and forty-five Technological Education students, aged between 10 and 12 years, attending the 5th and 6th years of schooling participated. Content analysis of the answers revealed that the implementation of units of work involving the construction of traditional toys are conducive to students’ motivation and commitment, constituting an added value in Technological Education. As this is a classroom project, it allows students to apply technical knowledge they have acquired. Thus, starting from a first idea, it allows them to experience all of the stages of toy building, from conception to completion, contributing to greater student satisfaction in the teaching-learning process.

Keywords: Traditional toysmotivationcommitmentTechnological Educationbasic education

Introduction

Technological Education holds a specific place in the curricula and educational activities of Portuguese basic education, due to its potential for developing, on the part of students, the know-how, which is essential to being, a necessary requisite in a balanced society (Porfírio, 1992). This school subject focuses on two major areas: “technics and science”: technics uses science in its application and science constantly uses the results of technics, both contributing to a technological culture (Ministério da Educação, 2001).

This subject develops fundamental skills towards an adaptation to an increasingly technological world. It comprises a strong practical component, developing attitudes such as job satisfaction, a sense of responsibility and the ability to work well within a group. As this practice is based on the elaboration and implementation of projects, we are faced with a set of activities that promote the development of sensitivity, of critical and creative thinking, being a key subject for shaping the individual in his/her entirety, i.e., at the affective, cognitive and social level (Porfírio, 1992).

Therefore, it becomes clear that Technological Education requires from students a knowledge and know-how within which motivation and commitment are crucial to the development of projects and activities likely to enhance learning.

The term motivation comes from the Latin word “movere” which means moving. This concept automatically evokes the one of activity (Drew, Olds, & Olds, 2007). Motivation is the most important factor why someone performs a task, namely, it is the cause that leads the person to do it, it is what sets the task in motion, towards the end one wants to achieve.

For Fontaine (2005), motivation is the dynamic side of the action, in other words, that which explains the direction and persistence of the individual’s behavior in pursuit of one’s objectives and goals meant to be achieved. The term commitment, on the other hand, refers to the act of doing something with dedication, or a lot of concentration, i.e., the individual who is committed is intent, dedicated to the task he/she wants to perform (Oliveira, 2008).

From the didactic point of view, motivating implies creating situations that make students feel motivated and want to learn. Self-determination theory considers humans to be actively seeking optimal challenges and new experiences to master and integrate (Decy & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Thus, in the promotion of motivation the needs of the student ought to be taken into account, once motivation is the cause that drives the action, the strength and nature of the effort that enables the learner to achieve the intended objectives (Oliveira, 2008).

In this sense, motivation is crucial for the development of any activity with quality, satisfaction and success, and is the main factor influencing student behavior, allowing for greater or lesser commitment in the fulfilment of learning-related activities (Carita, Silva, Monteiro, & Diniz, 2001). In turn, motivation, commitment and learning are closely linked, maintaining a reciprocal relationship. Motivation influences commitment and learning while learning fosters motivation and commitment.

Motivation and commitment should not be considered apart from the context in which they are originated, as the student’s motivation lies in the interaction with the world of people and things around him/her (Drew et al., 2007). Hence, the key role the teacher plays at this level in terms of the pedagogical interaction inside the classroom.

The teacher should therefore be a facilitator of student motivation and commitment, providing educational environments rich in varied experiences, likely to potentiate the development of skills through active student participation (Knüppe, 2006).

Within a cognitive and collaborative learning approach, Bruner (1996, 2006) argues that if the teacher promotes interest and curiosity about the contents, if she/he enhances their ability to seek, to find, if he/she talks to the students in a way that is suitable in view of their stage of development, i.e., if the teaching method is well-designed and external stimuli are relied upon, students will feel motivated and involved in the teaching-learning process.

According to Drew et al. (2007), the teacher should make education as real as possible, showing students the immediate usefulness of the contents presented by relating them to professional, technical, industrial applicability and to students’ own interest, according to their experiences and the reality around them. In this way, lessons will become authentic, and students will apply their motivation in learning whenever both they and the teachers are able to create favorable conditions for the exploration of the contents to be learned.

In this regard, traditional toys are educational applications in which the entertainment component is combined with and favors learning, as it promotes individual understanding of the world, through the situations of daily life, observation, research, critical sense (through the questions and answers), freedom, security, conflict resolution, understanding the differences and ability to face and solve problems (Drew et al., 2007).

In this sense, we consider that teaching practices based on the construction of traditional toys can be used to teach content through methodological proposals based on the interests of the students, likely to engage them in school activities. From this framework, we formulated the problem of this research:

- Do the work units related to traditional games and toys promote motivation and commitment on the part of students in the school subject Technological Education?

To respond to the question stated, goals were outlined, which were set as guidelines, namely:

- inquire about the perspective that teachers have of motivation and commitment;

- know the strategies that teachers use to promote motivation and commitment on the part of students;

- perceive, through the opinion of teachers, if the games and traditional toys may be factors which foster motivation and commitment with regard to the subject Technological Education;

- check motivation and commitment of students with regard to the subject Technological Education;

- ascertain that students feel motivated and committed in carrying out activities related to traditional toys.

Methodology

Results and discussion

Conclusion

The empirical study undertaken has enabled us to realize that teachers and students involved with the school subject Technological Education consider the construction of traditional toys, in the classroom, an important contribution to the motivation and commitment of students.

In the perspective of teachers, motivation and commitment are considered two very important aspects due to the practical nature of the subject and should therefore be encouraged in teaching practices.

The school subject Technological Education requires from students a diversity of knowledge and know-how, which involves the construction of ideas, creativity, understanding, experimenting, problem-solving, where motivation and commitment are essential.

In order that there is motivation and commitment, it is necessary for the teacher to use certain strategies of a methodological nature, specifically research and the application of the method of problem-solving. These results are in line with the perspective of Porfírio (1992) who advocates the use of this method in the subject Technological Education as structuring element of the teaching and learning strategies, as it allows for an increase of student participation in this process.

Also the identification of situations/problems related to the daily life of students is, in the teachers’ perspective, very important for the promotion of motivation and commitment, as it stimulates interest in schoolwork. Despite the importance of technologies in today’s world, traditional toys can be a pedagogical asset as concerns the age group of the students who attend the subject Technological Education.

Worth noticing is the fact that the construction of traditional toys in the classroom is a factor of motivation and commitment on the part of students, for the realization of objects that they consider simple, the emotional connection they create for the toy conceived by them and the playful surrounding environment are promoted so.

It follows, therefore, that the methodology of the subject, on its own right, is a strategy to promote students’ motivation and commitment and, when combined with the construction of games and toys, it is a valuable factor of motivation and commitment in the process of teaching-learning the subject Technological Education.

Regarding the perspective of students, we can conclude that the performance of activities involving the construction of traditional toys promotes their motivation and commitment, confirming the perspective of the teachers in this regard.

The fulfilment of the activities which involve the construction of traditional toys helps to overcome the difficulties inherent to the subject. Like the teachers, students ascribe these aspects to the theme itself, its playful character and the fact that it is they who build the toys and can use what they have built. These activities also enhance the application of knowledge, according to the scheme “design/make/use”, once students agree to the construction of objects which, to begin with, seem simple, they enjoy the fact that it is they who conceive the objects and see the final result.

We also acknowledged that students who undertook the construction of games and toys in the classroom proved to be highly motivated and those who did not showed interest in participating in similar projects.

In short, through the perspectives of teachers and students, we understood the nature of completeness which involves performing a unit of work on traditional toys, and so its fulfilment is a very important contribution to the promotion of motivation and commitment on the part of students attending the subject Technological Education.

Acknowledgements

The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), and the Center for Studies in Education, Technologies and Health (CI&DETS) of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu.

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