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March 19th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda MONDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — If at first you don’t succeed,
try, try again, goes the truism.
A new study by French researchers found that children who were told
learning can be difficult, and that failing is a natural part of the
learning process, actually performed better on tests than kids not given
such reassurances.
“We focused on a widespread cultural belief that equates academic
success with a high level of competence and failure with intellectual
inferiority,” said Frederique Autin, a postdoctoral researcher at the
University of Poitiers, in an American Psychological Association news
release. “By being obsessed with success, students are afraid to fail, so
they are reluctant to take difficult steps to master new material.”
Instead, acknowledging that difficulty is an important part of growing
intellectually and mastering new skills could “stop a vicious circle in
which difficulty creates feelings of incompetence that in turn disrupts
learning,” Autin added.
The researchers conducted several experiments involving sixth graders
who were asked to solve various problems.
In one experiment, students were divided into two groups and asked to
solve word problems that were too difficult for them to solve. The first
group was told that learning can be difficult, that it requires practice
and that failure is common. The other group was asked only how they tried
to solve the problems.
Both groups then took a test that measures working memory capacity, a
good predictor of academic achievement. The researchers found the students
who were told learning is difficult performed much better on the memory
test than the other students.
In another experiment, 68 students were given a reading-comprehension
test and questioned about their academic abilities. The group that was
told learning is difficult not only performed better on the test, but also
reported feeling more confident.
The findings were published online in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General.
“People usually believe that academic achievement simply reflects
students’ inherent academic ability, which can be difficult to change,”
said Jean-Claude Croizet, a psychology professor at the University of
Poitiers, who supervised the research based on Autin’s doctoral
dissertation. “But teachers and parents may be able to help students
succeed just by changing the way in which the material is presented.”
Researchers advised parents and teachers to focus on children’s
progress, rather than grades and test scores.
“Our research suggests that students will benefit from education that
gives them room to struggle with difficulty,” said Autin. “Learning takes
time and each step in the process should be rewarded, especially at early
stages when students most likely will experience failure.”
More information
The U.S. Department of Education provides tools for academic success among children.
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