Competence and Self-Worth (continued)

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As teachers, we are more likely to encourage students to tackle realistically challenging tasks—and thus enhance students’ sense of competence and intrinsic motivation—when we create an environment in which students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes (Clifford, 1990; Fredricks et al., 2004). We can also provide greater rewards for succeeding at challenging tasks than for achieving easy successes; for example, we might give students a choice between doing an easy task or a more difficult one but give them more points for accomplishing the difficult one (Clifford, 1990; Lan, Repman, Bradley, & Weller, 1994).

Once students are intrinsically motivated, they seem to prefer challenges to easy tasks, as the “Motivation” video clip in the Ormrod Teacher Prep Course illustrates. When 9-year-old Elena is asked what she likes best about school, she responds:

I like PEAK [a program for students identified as gifted]. . . . It’s for smart kids who have, like, good ideas for stuff you could do. And so they make it more challenging for you in school. So instead of third-grade math, you get fourth-grade math.

Similarly, when 15-year-old Greg is asked what things encourage him to do well at school, he says, “The challenge. If it’s a really hard class, then I . . . I will usually try harder in harder classes.” In general, challenges and intrinsic motivation mutually enhance one another, leading to a “vicious cycle” of the most desirable sort.

To date, most research on competence, self-worth, and self-handicapping has focused on academic tasks and accomplishments. We must keep in mind, however, that academic achievement isn’t always the most important thing affecting students’ sense of competence and self-worth. For many students such factors as physical appearance, peer approval, and social success are more influential (Eccles et al., 1998; Rudolph et al., 2005). To the extent that we can, then, we should support students’ successes in the nonacademic as well as the academic aspects of their lives.