Meaning/sense
With everything that is strenuous, the benefit and the meaning should also be recognisable. Learning and school engagement are strenuous, so it is important to make the benefit of the effort transparent. Perhaps the achievement of a good evaluation/grade is sufficient as feedback, but linking the effort with elements that promote identification, with personal goals of the students, or with values that the students see as positive, can also have a meaningful effect. Transparent and comprehensible learning goals allow for an evaluation of success beyond grades, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the students feel that their need for meaning is being taken seriously. The formulation of goals and the communication of the significance of the learning content for the achievement of personal goals also promote motivation to learn.
Positive emotions
Our emotions determine what we engage with and what we don't. This is why positive emotions are so important for learning processes. Positive emotions in the school context arise, among other things, from a sense of belonging, a high level of identification through agreement with one's own values, positive future prospects, involvement of the entire personality (thinking-feeling-wanting) and satisfaction of the need for growth. Negative emotions such as fear or excessive demands cause the release of stress hormones that inhibit the ability to think and remember.
Positive emotions in class can also be promoted by the choice of learning materials, by appreciative and encouraging behaviour, by a class climate that promotes well-being, by humour and laughter, as well as by appreciating and praising achievements.