[math4] Excellent article on helping children excel in learning.

[Karlie Robinson]

I hope a few of you can take a little time to read the article below.

The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids -- New York Magazine (thanks 
to Quaid for the link)
http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

Why am I suggesting it? Well it has a lot of good background on what 
motivates children to excel at life.

The article discusses the common "Positive Self-Esteem" theories that, 
as the article argues, are ineffective and even cause children to do 
less with their talents as a result of receiving positive feedback.

Obviously I can't do a 5 page article justice in this email, but what I 
learned from the article is that it's not helpful to simply say "good 
job" when a child does well. It's more important to show that their 
success is a direct result of their effort.

“When we praise children for their intelligence,” Dweck wrote in her 
study summary, “we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look 
smart, don’t risk making mistakes.” (taken from first paragraph on page 2)

So perhaps we should think of ways we can encourage effort in the 
activities we create? I know this may not be possible, since some games 
just aren't designed to do much more than play through right now, in any 
case it's probably a good thing to keep in mind as we go.

~Karlie