Join CERP3 for our monthly Education Research, Practice, and Policy Seminar Series. The May Seminar will be held in person at Seigle Hall with Brent Hickman, PhD from the Olin Business School at WashU to discuss student motivation and productivity.
Wednesday, May 6: 9-10am
Seigle Hall, Room 148
Coffee and Pastries Provided
When students struggle academically, educators, policy-makers, and researchers often instinctively focus on motivation: finding ways to make them care more, try harder, or persist longer. But what if motivation is only part of the story? This talk invites us to look more carefully at the distinction between a student’s willingness to learn, their capacity to learn efficiently, and why conflating the two may undermine student success.
Drawing on a large-scale field study with elementary and middle school students, this research examines how motivation (willingness to spend time studying) and productivity (how effectively time is converted into completed work and skill development) each shape academic outcomes, and what happens when we treat them as separate, measurable forces rather than a single construct. The findings challenge assumptions about achievement gaps and point toward new ways of thinking about how learning environments, resources, and interventions can be better targeted to student needs.