For years, JEIC has been exploring how to best motivate students in Jewish education. There are two types of motivation:

  • Extrinsic Motivation: Doing something because of an external reward or punishment (like grades).

  • Intrinsic Motivation: Doing something because you genuinely enjoy it or find it interesting.

Why Intrinsic Motivation Matters More for Jewish Education

Brain research shows that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation work differently. When you're intrinsically motivated and succeed, your brain wants to repeat that activity. However, when you're motivated by external rewards, you only want to do the activity for the reward. Once the reward disappears, so does the motivation.

Imagine a student who only studies for good grades. They might learn Jewish concepts for the grade, but without that external pressure, they might not feel driven to continue learning about Judaism later in life. As my colleague Sharon Freundel points out -if a student from a Jewish day school never opens a math book again, it's too bad. If the same student will not open a Chumash again, that is tragic.

A Historical Perspective

For over 3,000 years, Jewish knowledge and traditions were passed down without grades. We relied on intrinsic motivation to empower our people from generation to generation. Grades were introduced relatively recently, about 100 years ago. The addition of grades does not seem to improve the number of students who choose to stay committed to Judaism. This long history shows that intrinsic motivation is key to inspiring future generations of committed Jews.

Understanding Engagement

While intrinsic motivation is important, it's not the whole story. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described the idea of "flow," a state of deep immersion where you lose track of time. In order for flow to occur, the student needs to have the right combination of challenge and skills to create an enjoyable, high attention activity. This moment of flow engages the brain differently than casual note taking. However, creating "flow" in a classroom is difficult.Students do not always enjoy the activities of the classroom or feel like the activities need attention.

Educational researcher Philip Schlechty introduced the concept of engagement, which is similar to flow. Engaged students are attracted to their work, persist through challenges, and enjoy their accomplishments. This happens when students are focused and the task connects to their intrinsic motivations. Engagement results from attention and commitment.

Attention + Commitment = Engagement

Engagement happens when students bring both attention and commitment to their learning.

  • High Commitment/High Attention: These students are fully engaged and ask insightful questions.

  • High Commitment/Low Attention: These students are committed to uprooting the flow of the classroom.

  • Low Commitment/High Attention: These students are attentive but not invested only asking simplistic questions.

  • Low Commitment/Low Attention: These students are disengaged.

Our ancient wisdom already speaks to this, as you can see in the chart below. At the Seder on Pesach, we speak about the chacham (high commitment/high attention), the rasha (high commitment/low attention), the tam (low commitment/high attention), and the she’eino yodei’a lish’ol (low commitment/low attention). Each asks questions that stem from their persona. Each one deserves the proper measured response to reach engagement.

  HIGH COMMITMENT LOW COMMITMENT
HIGH ATTENTION

Authentic Engagement
CHACHAM

  • Associates the task with a result that has meaning.
  • Learns at a profound level absorbing vocabulary, big ideas, and dedication.
  • Asks questions with the vocabulary to learn more like the teacher or source.

Strategic or Ritual Compliance
TAM

  • Has little value in the task or the result.
  • Relies on extrinsic motivators of seeking rewards or avoiding punishments.
  • Asks superficial questions or questions pertaining to the assessments and rules.
LOW ATTENTION

Rebellion
RASHA

  • Avoids the task and tries to disrupt others from doing the tasks.
  • Commits to rejecting the benefits of the tasks or results.
  • Asks questions to disrupt the lesson or remove others from paying attention.

Retreatism
SHE’EINO YODE’AH LISH’OL

  • Disengages from the task and does not attempt to disrupt others.
  • Does other activities or quietly waits out the end of class.
    Asks no questions demonstrating apathy.

The Goal: Engagement, Not Compliance

Jewish education should focus on creating engagement by avoiding extrinsic motivation and fostering intrinsic motivation. Classrooms that prioritize compliance can lead to negative feelings, like anger or resentment. That may produce students who have strategic compliance and not care about the material.

The ultimate goal to cultivate independent, driven, and committed individuals with faith by inspiring them to engage deeply with Jewish wisdom stems from our desire to create a next generation of Jews. Instead of just covering material, aim to make students truly engaged in learning about our heritage through intrinsic motivation.