Intrinsic motivation is where students are driven to learn by internal rewards and not pizza parties ! They are motivated internally not externally.

There are a variety of variables influencing Learner’s motivation and effort. Research informs us that the physical and psychological category within the Safety variable for learning is fundamental to learning. Teenagers are often sleepy, not always psychologically primed for learning, greatly affected by teacher and peer acceptance, and thus, becoming focused in class, and staying focused, is difficult and patchy. Research has also indicated that teachers’ perceptions of their students’ learning can greatly influence the achievement of those learners. (Good, 1987). Notably, when a teacher does not believe that a student can ‘do it’, they will not push them to increase their academic performance. It seems therefore, that the key to increased academic performance when the variables pushing for it are not present in a classroom, is self motivated study. It is a possibility for consistency of effort by the learners. 

Furthering the potential problems faced by students in class is the pace in which instruction is given in class. This in turn, greatly affects the capacity of each student to either follow, or be engaged. It is therefore crucial to consider the speed at which you move through a lesson and the rate of delivery for different parts of the lesson. When pacing is too slow, students often become bored and disengaged. When it's too fast, some may not grasp what's being taught and get lost—or discouraged. As a result, intrinsic motivators for learning are suppressed. Traditional teaching environments are not conducive to personalised teaching depending on the learning style of each student, or their daily needs. We however, need to speak to those intrinsic motivators in our learners in order to help them tap into those elements which will further their possibility for effective and in depth learning. 

Anderson argues that the following are keys to developing intrinsic motivation in students as opposed to incentivized learning :

1. Autonomy

The need for self-direction is vitally important if we want students to be self-motivated. Learners are more likely to be fired up and excited about their work when they have some power and control over what or how they're learning. In fact, according to Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, the cocreators of self-determination theory, autonomy is perhaps the most essential of intrinsic motivators (2000).

2. Belonging

Although Deci and Ryan argue that autonomy is the most important of the intrinsic motivators, my guess is that Abraham Maslow might push us to prioritize belonging. His theory of human motivation (1943) makes the case that people's needs for connection and affiliation are practically as important as our most basic needs for food, water, shelter, and safety.

3. Competence

In Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn, John Hattie and Gregory Yates make the point that we are all "motivated by knowledge gaps but demotivated by knowledge chasms" (2014, p. 6). This speaks to the importance of students having a sense of competence. When challenges are within reach, and when students see themselves growing and getting better at something, they are more motivated.

4. Purpose

Students often ask "Why do we have to do this?" It means they're searching for purpose. They're not going to do work sheep-like just because I handed it to them. They need to know the why before they can worry about the what or the how. The way we answer this question is hugely important. Be careful not to emphasize grown-up reasons that make sense to you but that may not resonate with your students ("Someday in high school you'll need to write a lab report, so you need to learn how to do it now"). Be ready to offer them purpose that matters to them in the moment.

5. Fun

Should all schoolwork be fun? Of course not. But if we can make our lessons more fun, why wouldn't we? A little play can go a long way. There are tons of benefits (in addition to self-motivation) of play. It can help build skills of confidence and social competence (Golinkoff, Hirsh-Pasek, & Singer, 2006) while also supporting language development, literacy skills, and self-regulation (Guirguis, 2018), to name just a few.

6. Curiosity

Your students bring a plethora of interests into your classroom. They are skateboarders, social justice advocates, chess and soccer players, pianists, and gamers. When we find ways of connecting learning goals to students' interests—the things they're naturally curious about—they will be more invested.

He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche 

References

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/6-intrinsic-motivators-to-power-up-your-teaching

Anderson, M. (2016). Learning to choose, choosing to learn: The key to student motivation and achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Anderson, M. (2021). Tackling the motivation challenge: How to activate student learning without behavior charts, pizza parties, or other hard-to-quit incentive systems. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Deci, E., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668.

Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Singer, D. G. (2006). Why play = learning: A challenge for parents and educators. In D. G. Singer, R. M. Golinkoff, & K. Hirsh-Pasek (Eds.), Play = learning: How play motivates and enhances children's cognitive and social-emotional growth (pp. 3–12). New York: Oxford University Press.

Guirguis, R. (2018). Should we let them play? Three key benefits of play to improve early childhood programs. International Journal of Education and Practice, 6(1), 43–49.

Hattie, J., & Yates, G. C. (2014). Visible learning and the science of how we learn. New York: Routledge.

Kohn, A. (2018, October 28). Rewards are still bad news (25 years later). [Blog post]. AlfieKohn.org.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.