The Science of Motivating Young People
6 big takeaways from research on creating authentic spaces for youth to thrive
“I remember thinking, I don’t know how to get kids to line up and go to an assembly without punching each other in the groin, like that was my problem. And all of the supposed research best practice in the world about performance goals and mastery goals are not solving my problems.” David Yeager, on why teachers are not compelled by research.
Not all researchers care to make their work usable.
It’s almost a given - my research studies, like this one I do happen to really love, never reached a wide audience. The study was about the correlate changes in habits and attitudes about reading was one the reasons I stopped aiming to publish in academic journals.
The only people who read those journals are other researchers.
A lot of the research I was doing took a long time both to gather and collect, then even more to analyze and publish. And it was not shared with audiences who could put it into practice.
A wide audience is not just for ego reasons, but truly for validating findings.1 If the target of your research does not want to read or use it, there is no way you can tell if your analyses and interpretations are correct. And if they are not, and no one is reading the research, why do it?
So I am always happy when there are the true pioneers out there, doing research and writing books that lead to practical, meaningful change like Dr. David Yeager.2 So I did a nerdy research rejoice when his most recent book, 10-25: The Science of Motivating Young People was published.
What did he have to say about motivation and young people, a topic near and dear to my heart both personally and professionally?
The Big Idea
I’ve never bought into the ideas that being a teenager meant you hated school.
It’s just not a given. I mean, sure my own high school experience was *not at all magical*, but it was fine. But I know many schools that truly DO know what it takes and do create some magic - including both of the schools my kids attend.
So when I hear about the, “waning motivation in the teen years,” as a natural development, I try to track it not just to adolescent development, but also my own experiences.
And it does not align.
And don’t we all love when there is empirical evidence to match things you already believe about the world?
There were several key take aways from his work that I wanted to share.
Have you read the book? Here is a podcast that does a great job capturing key messages. I would love to hear your impressions.
