Intellectually Stimulating Students' Intrinsic Motivation: The Mediating Influence of Affective Learning and Student Engagement

Motivating students is an important part of effective instruction. Thus, researchers have been interested in learning how to promote motivation, specifically intrinsic motivation, in students. One way of achieving this goal is through the use of intellectually stimulating behaviors. Though scholars know that the promotion of these behaviors works to influence students' intrinsic motivation, what has yet to be explained is how. Results indicated that both affective learning and student engagement mediated the influence of intellectual stimulation on students' intrinsic motivation. Implications for students' course workloads and instructors are discussed.