Thanks, Srdjan! I like gaming. I have one of my courses set up like a game! There are Levels and bonus awards and badges! It is well received by the Millennials and ZGen!

You can also look at it from a behavioral point of view, and try and determine the function of your students behavior. In Behavioral Science we identify four basic functions of behavior- attention, escape, self-stimulation (doing it because it feels good) and gaining access to something or someone. Everyone is different, and since you don't have time to run a functional behavior assessment on each of your students, I would suggest incorporating a token economy where they have to work together to gain token to exchange for rewards. It's a basic reinforcement system, but works very well. You will also have 1-2 students that won't buy into it, and those are the students you can customize reinforcement for. Ask yourself, are they trying to get out of work? When they don't turn in their homework do they get a ton of attention? Believe it or not, attention is attention, it doesn't matter if it's praise or a reprimand. Try and figure out what motivates those that are not doing what they are supposed to be doing and go from there. The ones that are keeping up and doing what they are supposed to be doing are already getting reinforced- because learning, school, or something about the environment is reinforcing for them. Also, making the environment fun never hurts. Students are more likely to engage when the response effort goes down and the fun goes up. Just remember though- fun does not mean they will remain engaged in the material forever. They will need their behaviors of cooperation, compliance, and learning reinforced.

I think something related to daily life will be more interested to learn, because we are doing/seeing many-things and we do not know the exact chemistry/science in it.

Thanks all! These are interesting ideas about motivation to learn.

Paul: More and more my college students want to know how a lesson will help them in their career and in the future. They ask, "Why do I need to know this lesson?"

Therefore, it helps if lessons relate to the real-world. I also sometimes start a lesson by explaining why the topic is important and why they (students) need to learn the lesson.

I also invite guest speakers and alumni into my classroom to speak to the students about their current job and how their college education has helped them to succeed.

I believe that willingness and intrinsic motivation to learn is the key!

The key is treat people kindly and give them responsibility.