Eclectic Technology

"You don’t have to be born with math skills; solving problems is a matter of studying and motivation.

That may not seem like such a surprise, but it’s become easy to say ‘I just can’t do math.’ While some element of math achievement may be linked to natural inborn intelligence, when it comes to developing skills during high school, motivation and math study habits are much more important than IQ, according to a new study.

“It’s not how smart we are; it’s how motivated we are and how effectively we study that determines growth in math achievement over time,” says Kou Murayama..."

"One of the problems I think we have in schools is that we train students to fear failure, to avoid it at all costs. Now, to be clear, I'm not suggesting you go out and fail all your classes. But I am suggesting that you should take some risks in your learning. That instead of avoiding things that are hard (because you might fail), you challenge yourself to step up and take on things that are difficult."

This also includes a TEDtalk by Myshkin Ingawale. The site states "The important point to realize is that he built this device - and it failed. So then he built it 32 more times until it worked."

“When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done.” Sir Ken Robinson

Common sense tells us that students are more likely to learn if they are motivated by and engaged with the curriculum or project at hand. Now, hard science is telling us the same thing.

When students are passionately engaged in their learning - when they are mesmerized by their learning environment or activities – there are myriad responses in their brains making connections and building schema that simply would not occur without that passion or emotion.