Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains the thesis that focusing on student self-efficacy and future goals can offer powerful tools. It examines scenarios that involve individuals and classrooms. Motivation resides within individuals, and teachers often need to figure out why certain individuals are not engaged in learning. The most internalized form of motivation is intrinsic motivation. The book focuses on defining and supporting importance of self-efficacy for motivation for learning. It also focuses on future goals and why author chose to present these rather than other goals. The book summarizes two "big" theories that are most important for situating these two concepts within the larger literatures. The concept of self-efficacy came out of Social Cognitive Theory, which was developed to capture how humans use both environmental information and internal thoughts to govern their behaviors.