The article “Motivation for Mandatory Courses” is written by Professor Elsie Chan and published in the CDTL Brief in 2004. In this article, it clearly explains what the problem of negative motivation for mandatory for undergraduates is, why it comes from and the way of solving this problem. Firstly, the negative motivation is defined that “students are often motivated to succeed in the class only because they need to pass the module.” The author stresses that the intrinsic motivation helps the students do their best in modules. There are four main perspectives on intrinsic motivation: competence, curiosity, autonomy and internalized motivation. After the understanding of root of intrinsic motivation, the professor provides some practical ways to motivate students from his experience. He says that teachers could create a positive learning environment for students. Teachers can help students set a goal and action plan for learning, simultaneously; they can also help the student overcome a passive approach to the subjects and help students increase their sense of competence. For example, teaching with the help of multimedia tools, formation of discussion groups and problem solving project will excite the intrinsic motivation of students. Furthermore, the basic principles of motivation is through clear communication, setting tasks to engage students, creating situations that allow students make and correct mistakes and displaying the enthusiasm for the subject matter. Finally, he drew a conclusion that the negative motivation can be turned into positive motivation by creating a positive leaning environment with the knowledge of the root of motivation.
References
Chan, E.(2004). Motivation for Mandatory Courses. CDTL Brief, 7(3), retrieved October
21, 2007, from http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/brief/v7n3/default.htm.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Movie Review
Movie review of “A beautiful mind”
“A beautiful mind” is an excellent film so that I have watched for a few times. It tells the story about the famous mathematician John Nash. He made a very significant contribution in game theory when he was very young. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed as schizophrenia when he was doing very well in his career. With the persistence of mathematics and the help from his wife-- Alicia, he gradually got rid of the disease. Moreover, he got the Noble Prize in economics in 1994. It showed us the life of the great mathematician. It also led me some thinking about him. What makes him be a Noble Prize winner besides his talent? Maybe there are two main aspects.
The first reason is his desire and persistence in mathematics. In the film, his inspiration came from the process in pursuing the beautiful girls. Then he spent the whole winter to make the mathematical proofs. These behaviors show that he is addicted to mathematics. He is a genius, but if he do not put his heart into mathematics, how can he make the breakthrough in the game theory? Even when he was ill, he still tried to do some mathematical work, the desire to study mathematics drove him to work continuously until making some breakthrough.
The second reason is the support from his wife. Nash was lucky as he got a bright brain.
Unfortunately, he also got the horrible disease---schizophrenia. He was tortured by this disease for almost thirty years. He struggled between the real and imagined world. In the film, the sorrow was visualized by three virtual characters. The pain cannot be described only by words. It is his wife who always accompanied him. She was dangerous because Nash might hurt her. However, she did not leave him alone; she always tried her best to help him get rid of the imagined world. After years’ effort, Nash finally kicked the schizophrenia away. Moreover, he won the Nobel Prize. The journey was really harsh, with the support from his wife, he eventually went through it. If there was no his wife, maybe Nash will never became healthy again.
In addition, the film’s title is “a beautiful mind”, whose mind it refers to? A lot of people think it refers to the Nash’s mind because he went through a harsh time, but I personally think that it refers to Alicia’s. At the end of the film, Nash made a speech on the stage. He said: “Today that I am here because of you.” Here “you” obviously refered to Alicia. Furthermore, what Alicia has done is really remarkable. She always helped him struggle with the disease. Therefore, I think the title refers to Alicia’ mind, not Nash’s.
Overall, this is a good film, for both the contents and the performance. It will bring the audiences pleasure as well as some thinking. It is worth watching.
“A beautiful mind” is an excellent film so that I have watched for a few times. It tells the story about the famous mathematician John Nash. He made a very significant contribution in game theory when he was very young. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed as schizophrenia when he was doing very well in his career. With the persistence of mathematics and the help from his wife-- Alicia, he gradually got rid of the disease. Moreover, he got the Noble Prize in economics in 1994. It showed us the life of the great mathematician. It also led me some thinking about him. What makes him be a Noble Prize winner besides his talent? Maybe there are two main aspects.
The first reason is his desire and persistence in mathematics. In the film, his inspiration came from the process in pursuing the beautiful girls. Then he spent the whole winter to make the mathematical proofs. These behaviors show that he is addicted to mathematics. He is a genius, but if he do not put his heart into mathematics, how can he make the breakthrough in the game theory? Even when he was ill, he still tried to do some mathematical work, the desire to study mathematics drove him to work continuously until making some breakthrough.
The second reason is the support from his wife. Nash was lucky as he got a bright brain.
Unfortunately, he also got the horrible disease---schizophrenia. He was tortured by this disease for almost thirty years. He struggled between the real and imagined world. In the film, the sorrow was visualized by three virtual characters. The pain cannot be described only by words. It is his wife who always accompanied him. She was dangerous because Nash might hurt her. However, she did not leave him alone; she always tried her best to help him get rid of the imagined world. After years’ effort, Nash finally kicked the schizophrenia away. Moreover, he won the Nobel Prize. The journey was really harsh, with the support from his wife, he eventually went through it. If there was no his wife, maybe Nash will never became healthy again.
In addition, the film’s title is “a beautiful mind”, whose mind it refers to? A lot of people think it refers to the Nash’s mind because he went through a harsh time, but I personally think that it refers to Alicia’s. At the end of the film, Nash made a speech on the stage. He said: “Today that I am here because of you.” Here “you” obviously refered to Alicia. Furthermore, what Alicia has done is really remarkable. She always helped him struggle with the disease. Therefore, I think the title refers to Alicia’ mind, not Nash’s.
Overall, this is a good film, for both the contents and the performance. It will bring the audiences pleasure as well as some thinking. It is worth watching.
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