Field trips as a way of supporting intrinsic motivation

Abstract

Motivation can be described as a driving force, which leads people to engage in a certain activity, get involved in projects and move towards their goals - personal and professional. It is in itself a fundamental and unique element for every human being to find fulfillment. Intrinsic motivation, also known as internal motivation, is related to the inner strength that is able to remain active even in the face of adversity. This type of fuel that is related to individual interests, grouped into categories such as competence, autonomy and relatedness, can only be changed by the person's choice. Here we argue that field trips are in their own right creators of intrinsic motivation; aspects such as socializing during cooperation in the execution of concrete assignments in the field and the joy of exploring and analyzing actual artifacts and environments, positively impacts students' motivation. Through literature on field trips and intrinsic motivation, supplemented with personal reflections from experience, this review presents actions to further enhance intrinsic motivation from field trips. As an outcome, we summarize in a table a list of actions to enhance intrinsic motivation from field trips, organized in pre, during and post- field trip phases.