An SIUC instructor who says motivated people can accomplish more in life is involved in research to determine what interests 3 to 6-year-olds to help teachers motivate children.

Kim Gordon, assistant curriculum and instruction professor, said she hopes to find which activities motivate children among creative, language, cognitive, motor and social activities.

Gordon said motivation is an essential characteristic within children that if developed properly can determine how successful a child will be later in life.

Advertisement

It is so important that it can mean the difference between someone achieving their potential and not achieving their potential, she said.

Gordon said motivation has never been measured, but a study on self-concept does exist.

Gordon said she is in the first stage of the project, and this first study will not answer all the questions.

Science takes time, Gordon said. It doesn’t happen overnight. This study will let me know how many emotional domains exist in children from age 3 to 6.

Children are interviewed to find out what kind of activities motivate them.

Gordon said she hopes to look at some of the results by the summer. So far, data has been gathered on 29 children, and by the end of spring, there will be a total of 50. About 60 percent of the children are female and 40 percent male.

It is interesting to find out what motivates females and males, Gordon said. That way, a teacher can use certain methods to motivate boys and girls.

Advertisement*

Nancy Ellison, a teacher assistant at Big Top Day Care in Murphysboro, said Gordon’s reseach will benefit teachers because there is always more to learn.

Anything hands-on, a teacher loves to use, Ellison said. There’s nothing better than going to a fresh workshop.

Ellison said she believes research concerning the advancement of education for children is important.

Children are the most valuable resource out there, and anything geared toward educating children I’m all for, she said.

Ellison said the biggest challenge she faces in motivating children is teaching them to play with others.

You have so many children from so many backgrounds, and you are trying to melt them in one big pot, Ellison said. When they come here, they are introduced to a new set of rules. What may be socially acceptable at home may not be accepted here.

Ellison said children are artistically creative and open to new ideas.

We paint with pudding and soap and with our feet, she said. An adult would just see paint mixed together, but to children, there is a smell to it and a taste to it.

The children involved in the research come from the Child Development Laboratory and cooperative preschool on campus, and from Murphysboro and Marion.

Gordon said she is fascinated by children and loves working with them.

They are really amazing, she said. They know and are able to do more than we give them credit for.