When children cooperate with one another toward a mutually agreed upon end, a positive group spirit results. A belief that "the system works," that "as a team all things are possible," that "success is possible if we all pull together" is far preferable to traditional, competitive approaches which afford success to fewer students. Also, when students are working for individual, subject-specific success, they may find that their self-esteem is tied to success in language arts, for example, but tied to failure in mathematics.
In "When Bright Kids Get Bad Grades," Steinberg (1993) warns of simplistic applications of motivation research to classroom practice. According to Steinberg (1993), "Teachers have drawn from research that they should provide children with success experiences and plenty of positive feedback. Although this may often be a good strategy, it is not equally helpful for all, in all situations" (p. 54).
Steinberg (1993) goes on to outline the two conflicting views of intelligence which may determine whether or not a situation will be motivating
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