Teachers' Scare Tactics May Lead to Lower Exam Scores
Monday, April 21, 2014 - 11:01
in Psychology & Sociology
As the school year winds down and final exams loom, teachers may want to avoid reminding students of the bad consequences of failing a test because doing so could lead to lower scores, according to new research. Students who said they felt threatened by their teachers' messages that frequently focused on failure reported feeling less motivated and scored worse on the exam than students who said their teacher used fewer fear tactics that they considered less threatening, the study found.