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An 18-month-old knows if he keeps making noises eventually you will understand what he's communicating?

A 3-year-old knows if she keeps scribbling someday people will recognize what she' s making?

A 4-year-old knows if he keeps looking at the words on the page one day he'll be able to read?

These behaviors can be best explained by the concept of instinctual optimism, one of the two early, critical keys for successful learning. A child doesn't have to learn by experience alone because natural instinct also guides her. With her inborn optimism, she remains confident that, no matter what challenges she faces, with perseverance she will ultimately succeed. Instinctual optimism is a quality that we believe is genetically driven in our species and is the engine that drives children's daily quest to understand and master the world around them. All children come into the world with instinctual optimism, some to a much greater extent than others, depending on their temperament.

Children's curiosity, driven by their instinctual optimism, is all the reward or reinforcement they need to engage in new activities. This internal drive is known as intrinsic motivation, the second critical key to academic success. Young children engage in activities not because they receive external motivators, but because they simply enjoy the activities.

Supporting Students' Motivation and Optimism at School

Most children are eager to go to school. For them, school is just another developmental challenge that they are instinctually optimistic they will master and intrinsically motivated to engage in. However, students soon find they're judged and evaluated in a competitive atmosphere, and no matter how well they perform they'll always be reminded there is room for improvement. Our education system is often driven by the promise of a reward, the threat of a punishment or the challenge of competition. These external motivators may be effective and well- intended, but they clearly work against the continued development of a child's intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation - participating at school for the sheer pleasure of learning - is soon eclipsed by the promise of external rewards, and a child's natural enthusiasm for learning may be dampened.

When children have learning, emotional, behavioral, social, academic or other developmental problems, they often struggle in school. Yet, even children facing challenges are born with instinctual optimism and intrinsic motivation. Unfortunately, our education system has determined that students who struggle need a greater degree of external motivation to stay engaged in academic tasks. Yet it is exactly these students whose intrinsic motivation must be nurtured and reinforced. We're not suggesting that grades, rewards, punishments, or competition should be banished from our educational system, but rather that we must strike a balance between the use of external rewards and the reinforcement of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation drives self-reinforcement, which we believe is the foundation of academic success, even more important than intellect, ability and opportunity.

When any child struggles with instinctual optimism and intrinsic motivation, we must guide and provide her with experiences that will further develop those qualities. It's understandable that such a child will be prone to see her mistakes as failures, to avoid academic challenges, ultimately developing a helpless or hopeless approach to school. It's reasonable to think that offering her an external payoff will motivate her to engage in a difficult task, yet doing so may well dampen her natural motivation.

Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah, a Research Professor of Psychology at George Mason University and Director of the Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Attention Disorders, author, co-author or editor of 26 books and dozens of book chapters and peer reviewed research articles.

Robert Brooks, Ph.D. is on the Faculty at Harvard Medical School and former Director of the Department of Psychology at McLean Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Comments from GreatSchools.org readers

04/23/2009:

"HI!
I appreciate your attempt to motivate children and to enable them to be
active learners rather than passive, perhaps uninterested learners. My
grandchild and my daughter live with us. Computers, when my daughter was
young, were not what they are today. I thank the wisdom of a friend who
insisted 32 years ago our family had to have computer, and my wisdom to
give into her expertise, and to purchase a computer that I couldn't see as
being that important.
My daughter has ADD and other features that are associated with ADD, as do
I. Without the computer she would not have been graduating with honors,
and receiving a Masters degree that will give her dual certification to
teach in pre-K to grade 3, as well as teach children with special needs.
She has made it a point to volunteer, student teach and find a position in
an inner city school. She is 'giving back', in appreciation. She had to
struggled and I had to fight for her to have the education she needed,
wanted and deserved. I, was considered 'lazy' and not living up to my
potential' when I was a child, because of what is now called ADD. There
were no computers to enable me, nor the the support or understanding of
the Educational community. They found a diagnosis for a different
learning style, so at least my daughter wasn't seen as 'lazy' 'not living
up to her potential', but it is meaningless to have a diagnosis without a
way to teach. The computer was a life saver!
, and I know some people in Educational world would agree with me.
My daughter has taken the computer skills she has to teach my grandchild.
We do not yet know if she has ADD, but suspect she does. She is now 5,
and in Pre-K. She learned how to spell her name and to use the letters she
saw to then write them herself. This is only a small part of how my
daughter has used the computer to challenge her and to interest her, as
well as make her curious. My grandchild knows more about animals than
most adults do (in fact she has taught me about animals I didn't know
existed). My daughter has used the computer to bring to life, so much
information, and my granddaughter has absorbed everything put before her.
My granddaughter is challenged by all the information, my daughter exposes
her to. Information, that would not have been at my daughter's finger
tips without the computer. In my day, one went to the out of date
Encyclopedia to answer questions put before parents who didn't know the
answer. Today, the computer can lead parents to info!
rmation that is up to date and goes way beyond the initial question. In
fact, my husband, a college professor, took my granddaughter to 3 of his
classes this week. My granddaughter raised her hand to respond to
material he presented in his Theories of Personality, Psych 101, and
Abnormal Psych. classes. She followed the information enough to be able
to give appropriate examples with regard to what he was teaching, many of
his students were amazed. Her attention span, the challenge, and ability
to grasp information, is a result of her use of a computer. Needless to
say it has also had a great impact upon her self esteem. Lets not power
down, let's start learning how to use the computer to teach, help children
to find their own questions, and what they want to know more about. Let's
make a commitment to providing more interesting and challenging ways for
kids to play on the computer, but also learn. Let's make learning as
exciting as video games, and challenge children t!
o be active and interactive learners using the computer. Shou!
ld they have time to also be passive computer users, yes, we all need to
play as well as learn, but if it were as interesting to learn than perhaps
they would have an opportunity to learn how to balance the world between
work and play that would follow them throughout their lives. At one time
where in the world is Aldo (I think that was the name of the person in
this game) taught children geography in a very hands on way, while they
played. What happen to those inventive games. I believe it was easier to
give into video games, than it was for those who provide internet material
for children, than to work on providing games that were a learning
experience. In other words, the easy way out was taken rather than the
more challenging educational programs
I would like to see as much energy go into providing a challenging,
interactive educational internet, that teaches children, holds their
attention, and makes them curious. Let's not power down but rather
challenge parents, teachers, and other educators, even students to use
this powerful tool in an appropriate way. Everything in our society has
been so watered down that we expect very little and so we get very little.
We are annoyed when young people can't function behind a deli counter to
provide the sandwich asked for and add to the bag utensils and condiments.
It is amazing how a little thing, that perhaps is not so little when you
realize that you don't have the needed napkin, can be taught easily as
apart of other learning on a computer.
I wish I had the money to dangle before those who are in the know as well
as those who don't even know what they are capable of, to be creative, to
provide more meaningful computer learning experiences, with a strong
belief that cash incentives would no longer be needed, for the challenge
itself might be the incentive itself to create.
I challenge America not to tune down but to tune on and use what is an
incredible gift to our children, a computer. I challenge America to take
this time to be creative and challenging, and show what we can do with a
computer, it is too powerful a resource to turn our backs on!"

04/22/2009:

"Finally, two people who understand intrinsic motivation. I just retired
as a school supt, but think of myself as a behaviorist now.
I just published a comprehensive book of 423 pages totally devoted to ONLY
intrinsic motivation using The Triad that came to me through prayer only
11 hours after I asked God for help. The Triad is a skills-based method
parents can learn and teach to their children to increase their intrinsic
motivation that translates to performance improvement in any purposeful
activity, task, job, or relationship. The book is Purposeful Intent:
Motivating Your Mind From Within and available on Amazon. It will be in
bookstores soon, as it was only released March 5th.
Buy a copy and see what you think. My Ph.D. is in Perceptual-Motor
Learning and Sport Psychology. I heavily researched this topic and found
that all the other authors, speakers, etc. were only telling you what but
not how to increase your motivation. I fell into the same trap and had
the book half written when my prayer was answered and I changed the
approach. Now I am just the messenger.
The Triad skills are interrelated such that when you start to master the
strategies and cues of one skill they act like heated up molecules that
bump into the other two skills. The other skills get agitated, wake up,
and start processing more information - and this process goes on for THE
REST OF YOUR LIFE - like riding a bicycle, you never forget how to apply
those skills in combination.
The Triad: Increase Awareness, Enhance Self Evaluation, and Connect Reward
With Reinforcement.
If possible, I would like to write an article for you if you think this
information is worthy for your parents and teachers. Just tell me the
format and how many words to use, and the audience.
I have a website that is being worked on, but still helpful:
www.drpeteandersen.com (my last name is spelled with an sen ending.
Hope to hear from you, and really glad to see a good website devoted to
the early learner. PreK-3 was my primary focus in my K-12 dist. to get
kids off to a good start. Problem is that teachers are not taught how to
use intrinsic motivation skills in their degree or professional
development programs. In Illinois I have written a full day Administrator
Academy program to try to make a difference in this area. My blog is: The
Intrinsic Motivation Performance Improvement Guru.
Pete Andersen, Ph.D."

04/21/2009:

"There is a fundamental flaw in the arguments of your experts: any appeal
to the 'insticts' of man must necessarily be based on the premise that man
does not think. In fact, man is self-made being who thinks, which creates
his premises and his propensities. Born tabula rasa--which means as a
blank tablet--it is the premises he accepts that determine his optimism
and motivation as a child."

04/21/2009:

"This was a wonderful article! This is something I have always felt about
motivating kids to learn but never had the science to back it up! This
model could also be used to motivate adults!"

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