LEXINGTON MONTESSORI SCHOOL ADMISSION

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research Study:
The Influence of Teachers on Increasing Student’s Motivation:

Mechanisms and Applications of Emotional Cognition Between

Applicant: Gentiana Isufi

April 2023
Overall Objective: Analyze the impact of teachers in increasing students’ motivation through
triggering the brain nervous system to identify individual differences in emotional cognitive
stimulation.
Key Words: influence, teachers, students, motivation, mechanisms, emotional cognition

Abstract
The purpose of this research proposal is to analyze the impact of teachers in increasing
students’ motivation through Educational Neuroscience which explains that environment, along
with biological factors, affects the emotional cognition of different students. The research will
comprise an examination of how motivation affects students’ emotional behavior because they
undergo different learning perceptions. The research aims to identify individual differences
between students who are stimulated by emotional cognition. Some neuroscience research
supports the hypothesis that digital technology enhances the development of knowledge-based on
childhood years with the incorporation of life and work skills inside and beyond the classroom,
hence helping the student succeed in creating opportunities for lifelong learning.
According to The Royal Society, “current work in neuroscience is directed toward
identifying the brain basis of learning difficulties” 1. Hence, this research is necessary and could
result in immediate implications inside and outside the classroom. Inside the classroom, in the
short term, it would help identify in students the best mechanisms for learning, which in the long
run would stimulate self-confidence learning to other opportunities in life. The research methods
will be classified and evaluated based on researching students’ motivation, which directly affects
their emotional cognition in planning life-long learning and mechanisms that work for students
with learning disabilities as well as other students.
The data collected will be analyzed by comparing an increase in emotional cognition
between different students during lesson activities and how does it affect their motivational
behavior and exploiting learning mechanisms that best work with students with learning
disabilities. A questionnaire will be prepared for students and teachers in different levels of
studies, and the results will be analyzed using SPSS to analyze different cross-tabulation
scenarios between different methods used for teaching.

1
Brain Waves Module 2: Neuroscience: Implications for education and lifelong learning (2nd ed., p. 10). London,
United Kingdom: The Royal Society.
2
Introduction

This study will research how teachers can increase the students’ motivation, which is
needed to enhance emotional cognition and trigger the brain nervous system to incorporate
students’ skills in association with motivation and emotions at the same time. The work will
focus on neuroscience where the nervous system responds differently when students experience a
high level of emotional cognition inside and beyond the classroom. The main goal is to explain
that different individuals are psychologically programmed to be motivated during certain lesson
activities and whereas others opt to be motivated during other certain periods.
The idea of this topic derives from a lack of qualitative research on why less proficient
students sometimes find it more difficult to accurately assess these processes, which for better or
worse, affect emotional cognition, especially when motivation is carried over long terms.
Previous research has concluded that students with a learning disabilities have cognitive deficits
which can be assessed by experimental tests.2
Students appeal to different learning styles and become involved in their own learning by
developing critical thinking and problem solving. Emotional cognition contributes to solving
many human internal wounds that could otherwise be prone to adversity, stereotyped language,
and create life-long internal conflicts. In the case of motivation, it is the human emotion it
attaches to learning perception, in the form of successful performance, a higher standard of
living, and achieving learning goals. The research will exploit the possibility that different
students acquiring emotional cognition will be competent students if it requires some form of test
reliability.

2
Brain Waves Module 2: Neuroscience: Implications for education and lifelong learning (2nd ed., pp.1-36). London,
United Kingdom: The Royal Society.
3
Literature Review
The cognitive stimulation is derived from multiple factors, key amongst them being our
parent’s level of education, teacher personality, classroom atmosphere, classroom participation,
and emotional atmosphere at home. The process that increases emotional cognition happens
when students experience the happy hormone, serotonin, hence, when the brain releases
dopamine, it increases your serotonin levels, which is associated with a happy childhood (two
parents who take care of and love their child unconditionally or grandparents who give advice
and play with their grandchildren). It is indeed magnificent to see how we experience an increase
in cognitive skills when we learn and practice a new language or when we interact with a native
speaker of a different language. These human learning tools are useful because they set up the
path for the learning goals and feedback to take place inside and beyond the classroom and are
not only confined to students with learning ability.
The Brain Waves Module 2: Neuroscience: Implications for Education and Lifelong
Learning by the Royal Society describes the process which affects the learning brain and
contributes to education serving as a powerful form of cognitive enhancement, and that good
practice should be given to knowledge of neuroscience. 3 The “Formative Assessment for
Students with Disabilities” article by the Council of Chief State School Officers includes
strategies into a curriculum: changing teacher approach of instruction to a formative approach
“What will my students learn today” and is not only confined to students with disability.
According to the Council of Chief State School Officers, criteria for success and formative
feedback are essential to improving students with disabilities life-long learning 4.
Teachers, Inclusive, Child-Centred Teaching and Pedagogy – Companion Technical
Booklet Webinar by UNICEF focuses on Child-Centred pedagogy which positively affects the
teacher’s view of learner difference. It precisely introduces the concept of inclusive values
comprised of 4 values (valuing learner diversity, supporting all learners, working with others, and
personal professional development) and given the emphasis on teacher pedagogy, it presents
seven pathways (verbal or linguistic, logical or mathematical, visual or spatial, body or
kinesthetic, music of rhythmic, interpersonal, intro-personal) for learning adapted to student’s

3
Brain Waves Module 2: Neuroscience: Implications for education and lifelong learning (2nd ed., pp.1-36). London,
United Kingdom: The Royal Society.
4
Formative Assessment for Students with Disabilities (pp.1-34). (2017). Washington, United States: Council of Chief
State School Officers.
4
learning difference5.
Current research explains that, through using a combination of behavioral and
neuroimaging methods, is possible to make suggestions for appropriate teaching methods to
students with special learning difficulties. Complimentary, according to the Royal Society,
“digital technology can enhance the work of the teacher in assisting the rehearsal of targeted
learning activities. Interactive games can use a teacher-pupil model to adapt the task to the
learner’s needs, and success criterion to provide meaningful feedback on their actions” 6.
It is extremely difficult to explain why students who are high performers are motivated to
be positive thinkers on a day-to-day basis. There is no evidence why some students are stimulated
by the so-called internal energy that see success as their life-learning goal. Nevertheless, “the
assumption that children with disabilities have special needs, and need specific teaching
methodologies, can lead regular teachers to think they are not capable of, or responsible for,
teaching all children in their classrooms.” 7 Consistently, teachers should teach all students to
adopt a reflective attitude to their self-assessment grid. Students with a learning disability need
the assistance of teachers not only to use strategies for self-adaptation but instill teacher’s
“inclusive values.”8
Teachers need to be extremely careful and should set tasks to give students opportunities
for planning, thinking, and learning over time. These opportunities promote students’
metacognition, motivation, and strategic action.” 9 They should choose tasks that are required
from students to working in groups such as asking students to sort the work “into sets of high,
medium and low quality so that it can verbalize their reasoning skill, those who are low
performers may need to be further assisted by using processes such as additional modeling,
smaller steps, and frequent feedback.” Teachers need to “provide success criteria (as rubrics,
guiding questions, a list of “I can” statements, a checklist, etc.) that are more specific. When

5
Teachers, Inclusive, Child-Centred Teaching and Pedagogy Webinar 12 - Companion Technical Booklet (p.13).
(2014). New York, United Nations: United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF).
6
Brain Waves Module 2: Neuroscience: Implications for education and lifelong learning (2nd ed., pp.14-15). London,
United Kingdom: The Royal Society.
7
Teachers, Inclusive, Child-Centred Teaching and Pedagogy Webinar 12 - Companion Technical Booklet (p.16).
(2014). New York, United Nations: United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF).
8
Teachers, Inclusive, Child-Centred Teaching and Pedagogy Webinar 12 - Companion Technical Booklet (p.8).
(2014). New York, United Nations: United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF).
9
Formative Assessment for Students with Disabilities (p.15). (2017). Washington, United States: Council of Chief
State School Officers.
5
success criteria are presented in rubrics or checklists, or are visualized as learning progressions,
students can set goals and monitor their progress using these tools.”10

Proposed Methodology
Methodology for this research will use the following forms of instruments: research on
the literature review, surveys, interviews with the teachers and the students. Firstly, data will be
collected using literature review and finding common ground that connects motivation and
emotional cognition during lesson activity, as well as the best resources and mechanisms that
work for students with intellectual disability. Secondly, data will be collected using surveys
during lesson learning of individuals with normal neural patterns and students with learning
disabilities. Thirdly, data will be collected by asking the teacher and students research questions.

In order to best tackle this issue from all possible angles, three sets of questions will be
asked. Each of the questions will have a subset of questions which will be developed in close
collaboration with the mentor. The three questions below will serve to jumpstart the research:

1. How do students acquire good motivational behavior?

2. What is the role of the teacher in increasing student’s motivation, and what
mechanisms can be used to stimulate emotional cognition?

3. What is the best way to support students with intellectual disability work on self-
assessment?

In addition, a specific survey with both open and closed questions will be developed to
measure specific motivations that different students have. The data will then be analyzed using
SPSS to test for different hypotheses. Interviews will also be conducted with field experts, which
will be identified together with the mentor.

10
Formative Assessment for Students with Disabilities (pp.17,18,23). (2017). Washington, United States: Council of
Chief State School Officers.
6