Teachers who create warm and accepting yet business-like atmospheres will promote persistent effort and favorable attitudes toward learning. This strategy will be successful in children and in adults.

Basic principles of motivation exist that are applicable to learning in any education situation. 1. The environment can be used to focus the student’s attention on what needs to be learned. Teachers ...

On Aug. 30, readers directed their questions on student motivation to a panel that included Edward L. Deci, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester; Carol S. Dweck, a professor of ...