Most-Clicked: 12 and Up Better at Learning from Mistakes

Before adolescence, children are much more likely to learn from positive feedback than negative feedback, says a Dutch study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Children ages 12 and older have brains much better equipped to learn from mistakes. This makes sense because learning from mistakes is more complicated and requires a person to diagnose what went wrong and how it happened.

Researchers say these findings have major implications for teachers. How might you give instructions differently to an 8-year-old who responds best to positive feedback than to a 12-year-old who understands both positive and negative feedback?