On my way to work on Friday I was listening to CBC Radio One. The topic that day on the show “The Debaters” was Higher Education and Awards for Kids. It was the most interesting topic and opened up my eyes to something that I was not all that particularly aware of.
Thus, after work that day I went home and did some searching on the internet. I came upon numerous articles that support the idea that praising effort rather than talent or intelligence is the key to having students and children whom accept challenges and become intrinsically instead of extrinsically motivated. As a result these students tended to perform better academically, work harder, and they were more likely to more engaged in their learning.
I encourage you to read this article to help shed some light on this topic. Please post any comments that you may have about this topic.
(Sep 16) I was just sent an email from Tom Hanson, the editor of openeducation.net, informing me of his discussion regarding this topic. I encourage you to take a look at it as it helps summarize the original work.