“It’s just fascinating—countries that do very well on PISA in mathematics, countries like Finland, Korea, Japan, and Netherlands, they score terribly on this motivation index,” Loveless aid. “Kids don’t look intrinsically motivated at all.”
What makes kids “like” math is succeeding at math. That is why we like classic Saxon math texts (which make no attempt to motivate students! no photos, no inspiring stories about people who use math when they grow up, no real effort to answer the perennial “When are we going to use this?”). None of this means you shouldn’t ALSO motivate students (while continuing your Saxon Daily 30 Reps”; another case of second rate educational research and analysis, presenting teachers and parents with false dichotomies (motivation or high scores? we choose both!)