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The Role Of Non-Formal Activities For Increasing Students’ Motivation For Learning

2018; Linguagem: Inglês

10.15405/epsbs.2018.06.74

2357-1330

Ioana Stăncescu, A Petrescu, Gabriel Gorghiu, Luminița Mihaela Drăghicescu,

Education and Critical Thinking Development

Nowadays, it is a strong need for a quality education that has to lead our students to sustainable acquisitions in the field of cognitive, metacognitive, social, cultural, emotional competences. Motivation is seen as a fundamental problem for the success of any learning activity. We are confronted with the phenomenon of students' demotivation, who often manifest lower interest for the topics they are studying. More, they don't know exactly what are the values which are able to ensure their guidance, and they don't know where to search for authentic attitudinal models. In this case, it is necessary a reconsideration of the teacher's roles, because the teacher is not just a "cold" transmitter of the essential content from a given field, but rather a guide, a facilitator, an educational context creator, able to identify the most appropriate ways to motivate students. An important direction in this sense is offered by the valorisation of non-formal activities and the involvement of students in such activities. The activities organized in the format of non-formal education can considerably increase students' motivation for learning and the involvement of students in their own formation, can consolidate their key-competences and can develop cross-cutting competences. The paper aims to illustrate the students' opinions concerning their willingness to be involvement and to promote non-formal activities. The proposed investigation involved a survey questionnaire for students, the sample being represented by first year students from different faculties of Valahia University Târgovişte, enrolled in the pedagogical module (level 1), for the future teaching career.