Holy smokes! So much for not putting pressure on kids! Now DS wants to get a dog tag every quarter...and we are all about "just do your best and don't worry about the grades." Ugh, ugh, and more ugh! I don't know how to counter it. Nan
[As by coincidence I just mentioned in another thread] I've been talking to DS about meta-cognitive stuff explicitly, and one of the things I've told him about is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and the research about how giving rewards/praise etc. tends to decrease intrinsic motivation. (You can explain the basics very easily: e.g. if you give two groups of children the same tricky puzzle to do, and the children in one group get a reward for doing the puzzle, the children in the other group are more likely to choose to do it for fun another time. It's as though they think that something they get a reward for can't really be fun.) I don't know how much it'll help, if at all, but at least it means I can be honest about my mixed feelings when he gets praised or rewarded for something that's worthwhile in itself, and I feel it should help to be aware of the effect.
