Encouraging Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose in Computer Science

Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of building intrinsic motivation on top of external rewards. Daniel Pink’s book Drive discusses how a carrot-and-stick approach might’ve worked during the 20th century, but it’s the wrong way to motivate people for today’s challenges. In the book, Pink highlights three factors that contribute to high performance and satisfaction:

• Autonomy: Our desire to be self-directed.
• Mastery: The urge to develop better skills.
• Purpose: The desire to do something that has meaning and is important.

As a middle school computer science and robotics teacher, I’ve designed my lessons so that students are able to strive for, and hopefully achieve, a sense of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Here’s how I do that.

Autonomy

In a classroom setting, I view autonomy as giving students a sense of control over their learning and how it affects their future. This is best accomplished by incorporating student choice whenever possible.

One decision that students routinely make is selecting a platform to solve the day’s challenge. I allow students to choose among several different options, including Scratch, Microsoft MakeCode Arcade, VEXCode, and Raspberry Pi. Another choice that I encourage is picking between block-based programming and text-based languages like Python, JavaScript, and C++.

I’ve also introduced a number of collaborative options that simplify tasks while still providing agency to students. These include:

• The ability to work with a partner.
• Access to my YouTube video modeling how to complete the challenge.
• Access to my finished example project to see how it works.

I take several steps to create this environment for students. First, I complete the same challenges as students days in advance. While doing so, I take a screen recording of myself and narrate the what and why. Afterward, I upload the screen recording to YouTube so that students have access to it. Not only does this give students a resource for class, but also it helps me see where students might get confused or make a mistake. I’m better prepared to help them, while not stepping in too much. Additionally, I share finished products with students so they can explore and play with them as they create their own, independent versions.

Mastery

Mastery is achieved when students feel successful navigating a segment of content; they’re able to highlight what they’ve learned and the new skills they’ve gained.

It’s paramount that students are able to observe progress in their learning. This requires making a connection between what students are doing today and what they’ve done in the past. While going over a daily challenge, I explicitly highlight prior learnings and how those learnings have prepared students for a seemingly new assignment. I cite concrete examples from other projects that utilized similar skills, which bolsters students’ confidence so they can master the task in front of them.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of teaching computer science classes is that students are always creating a product of their learning. Sometimes, via 3D printers and laser cutters, students are able to take home something physical that they built from scratch. Other times, they’re constructing a digital artifact—a video game or a program that solves a problem—that they can show off outside of school. There’s lots of power in a middle school student being able to point to something concrete and say, “I designed and built that.”

To showcase their mastery, I have students design a digital portfolio in the form of a Google Slides presentation. Each slide highlights a day’s project. The slides include the name of the challenge, a screen recording of their program detailing how it works, and a picture of their physical creation. This is a great reflection tool for students, who can look back at what they learned and created throughout the semester—and how they made increasingly complex games and designs.

Purpose

Connecting student learning to the real world is how I define purpose in my classroom.

Each class starts with a short video hook to set the stage for the day’s mission. YouTuber Mark Rober is an especially big hit among middle school students. Injecting real-world fun into the curriculum is a major focus. To help keep engagement high, many of our challenges are game-based. Students program their own video games, code digital Olympic events, and use 3D printers to make customized spins on classics like Scrabble, Jenga, dominoes, and chess.

There are lots of great, free resources available to help teach computer science and ensure that activities are lively and invigorating. I’m constantly reviewing tutorials and activities embedded in our commonly used coding platforms (the aforementioned Scratch, Microsoft MakeCode Arcade, VEXCode, and Raspberry Pi) to see what might serve as a purposeful daily challenge. YouTube has tons of great game-based coding tutorials as well.

Another method for building purpose in my classroom is to have guest speakers come talk about their careers. Every year, I reach out to local professionals and businesses and ask if they’re up for sharing about their experiences. At least three times per semester, students hear from programmers, engineers, college professors, and others about how classroom learnings connect to future career paths.

A great example is our Lego robotics project. Students built and programmed Lego robots to simulate three different aspects of maneuvering around a warehouse:

• A forklift drives to a Lego brick package, picks it up, and delivers it to the robotic arm.
• The robotic arm grabs the Lego brick package off the forklift and rotates 180 degrees to deliver it to the package sorter.
• The package sorter uses a color sensor to sort Lego bricks into distinct, homogeneous containers.

I reached out to a local Amazon warehouse about this challenge. The general manager visited our classroom and watched students’ final projects. He talked about what a real-life Amazon warehouse is like, and described his educational and career paths, too. Students enjoyed having an audience—and got to put a capstone on a project that combined autonomy, mastery, and purpose.