The opposite of control: a Deweyan perspective on intrinsic motivation in “After 3” technology programs

摘要

A central feature of the design of many “After 3” technology programs is the assumption that student learning and motivation requires that they have choice and control of their activity. Similarly, the dominant cognitive-rational perspective of motivation portrays effective learners as having control of themselves and their environment. In this article, we build on Dewey's (1934. Art as experience. New York: Perigree.) aesthetics and epistemology — as most fully developed in “Art as experience” — to suggest that to be deeply engaged in learning, to be truly moved, requires not only control, but also the “opposite of control”. In “Art as experience” Dewey proposed that aesthetic experience — compelling, transformative experience — requires doing (acting on the world), reflection (standing back from the world), and undergoing (being acted upon by the world). Furthermore, grasping the meaning of these experiences emerges through a qualitative sense in addition to intentional analysis and reflection. Thus, intrinsic motivation, or what we shall call transformative experience, finds a balance between control and its opposite. We elaborate our conception of the “opposite of control” and discuss how this idea helps us appreciate heretofore unilluminated qualities of intrinsic motivation in “After 3” technology programs.