From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Intellectual need
Intellectual need
Intellectual need is a specific form of intrinsic motiva-
tion; it is a desire to learn something. Although it is a dif-
Examples
ficult concept to grasp, it has been recognized as criti- • A student who asks a question is displaying an
cal in effective education and learning. Intellectual need intellectual need for the question to be answered.
arises when someone poses a question to themselves or • A birdwatcher who cannot identify a certain bird will
others, either out of curiosity or to solve a specific prob- often have a strong intellectual need to identify that
lem. bird because it represents a hole in their knowledge;
Intellectual need is often greatest when there is a however, others might have no intellectual need,
hole in an otherwise well-connected web of knowledge. even though they also cannot identify the bird.
Merely understanding a question and being unable to • One can cultivate intellectual need by giving
answer it is not sufficient to create intellectual students a problem they can easily understand but
need—intellectual need arises when a person believes the cannot solve, or a question they can understand but
question to be interesting or important, and usually this cannot answer, before introducing a technique that
involves fitting the question into a framework of well- can be used to solve the problem or information that
understood ideas. answers the question.
A common critique of certain educational systems is • If a student cannot understand a question or
that students are expected to learn facts and ideas in the problem, it cannot provide intellectual need for a
absence of any intellectual need. As a result, the teachers solution.
and educational system must provide extrinsic motiva- • Giving students a new technique to solve a problem
tion for the students in the form of tests, grades, or other will not be effective if the students are already able
incentives. This gives rise to a whole series of problems, to solve the problem through other easier or more
ranging from boredom to academic dishonesty. enjoyable techniques, because they will have no
intellectual need for the new technique.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intellectual_need&oldid=332013339"
Categories:
• Learning
This page was last modified on 16 December 2009 at 11:18. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
1