Modules 16 and 17 Blog 2

Yes, you should actually do this. It can be surprising. Remember your responses to the things in bold for the blog post.

• Grab two identical pieces of paper (or some material) and crumple them into paper balls.

• Stand in front of a trash can or receptacle of some kind.... Reflect on your confidence level.

I was pretty confident because I stood about 2 feet away.

• (try to) Toss the ball into the trash can. ....Did you make it? WHY didn't you make it?

I made the first shot because I was so close to the trashcan.

• Move back 5 (or more) feet. Reflect on your confidence level THIS time. Try again.

When I moved back 5 steps my confidence level went down a little bit.

• Did you make it?

YES!!

Did you do all of the above? Ok, now you can write:

• Use what you have read about factors of intrinsic motivation to explain what happened.

After learning about the factors of intrinsic motivation I reaslized that I was using it in this activity because there was no external reward for making the paper into the trashcan. I was personally interested in getting the paper in the trashcan. I realized that I was doing it strictly for enjoyment when I tried throwing more paper in the can than the activity told me to do.

• Do you think your original goal (distance from the trash can) was reasonable? (If you set reasonable goals and complete them, intrinsic motivation increases!)

Yes because I only stood about 2 feet away.

• How did you confidence level change from the first try to the second? If it increased, did you make your first shot? If it decreased, did you miss your first shot? (Success completing reasonable goals increases intrinsic motivation and confidence for next time)

The first time I tried my confidence way pretty high because I was so close to the trashcan but as I attempted my second shot my confidence went down because I was not sure I could make it another five feet away.

When you asked yourself WHY you didn't make the shot/s, what did you blame? Where these factors controllable or uncontrollable? What could you do next time to change those factors and improve your changes? (If failure/success is blamed on factors that are not controllable, such as luck, there's nothing you can do to improve, which makes a person feel helpless, and lowers intrinsic motivation. If it is attributed to factors that ARE controllable, and the person identifies those factors, they can feel empowered and will work to change those factors).

Since I made both shots I cannot say I blame anything but after my first two shots I continued throwing more in the trashcan just to see what would happen and I missed most of them. My first two shots were definitely just lucky because I do not consider myself to be good at things like this. As a little girl I never had an interest in playing games like this so I have not developed any type of ability. I would say these factors are uncontrollable because I did not have any time to practice this particular ability prior to being given this activity. Since I do believe that I made the paper into the trashcan on pure luck I think that next time I could practice this skill more before trying out the activity.