‘Why do I have to learn this?’

Students’ valuing of academic content impacts their engagement in learning and plays a pivotal role in shaping their future academic and career choices. Fortunately, practicing educators can integrate many readily applicable strategies into teaching to enhance students’ valuing of academic content. Drawing from expectancy-value theory, Eric M. Anderman, Yue Sheng, and Wonjoon Cha present five evidence-based instructional strategies with concrete examples that aim to enhance students’ valuing of academic content. These strategies can be implemented with minimal additional work for teachers and at little or no additional financial cost to schools.