Lesson10 min to readSign in to readen
How children think and learn, and why they fail in school
The syllabus asks why children fail and expects the answer to look at the school rather than the child — with alternative conceptions, errors as evidence, and the labelling and helplessness that turn one failure into a pattern.
Sign in to read this lesson
Every study-material lesson on this site is free to read — an account is what unlocks them, not a payment. Signing in also saves where you stopped reading and lets you practise the questions on this heading.
Also on this subtopic
Other material filed under How children think and learn; how and why children fail to achieve success in school performance.
- How children learn — constructivism and the social classroomWhy the paper treats learning as something a child constructs rather than receives — constructivism, progressive education, learning as a social activity, and why a child's error is treated as evidence rather than failure.Read this →
- The child as investigator, cognition and emotions, and what helps or hinders learningWhy the syllabus insists a child is already a problem solver and a scientific investigator, what the child's own theories mean for teaching, how emotion decides what cognition can do, and the full list of personal and environmental factors that make learning easier or harder.Read this →
- Motivation and learningWhy intrinsic motivation is the answer the paper is almost always looking for, what Maslow's hierarchy means for a hungry or frightened child, and how praise and rewards can quietly reduce the motivation they were meant to raise.Read this →