Grades themselves, regardless of formula, detrimentally affect creative thinking, long-term retention, interest in learning, and preference for challenging tasks¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1994 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Grades have been found to detrimentally affect creative thinking, long-term retention, interest in learning, and preference for challenging tasks, an effect attributed to grading itself rather than grade quality. → Kohn 1994

Evidence¶

Kohn 1994¶

Kohn, Alfie. (1994). The Risks of Rewards. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education Urbana IL. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED376990

q2 · i? · review · r1

The digest reports, citing Butler & Nisan (1986) and Grolnick & Ryan (1987), that "grades in particular have been found to have a detrimental effect on creative thinking, long-term retention, interest in learning, and preference for challenging tasks." No effect sizes are printed.

"grades in particular have been found to have a detrimental effect on creative thinking, long-term retention, interest in learning, and preference for challenging tasks (Butler & Nisan, 1986; Grolnick & Ryan, 1987)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Digital game-based learning supports long-term retention of second-language vocabulary — related
• Generation as the sole desirable difficulty produced no detrimental effect on L2 vocabulary recall, in contrast to prior short-term findings — related
• Deeper processing of target language improves lexical retention and long-term learning — related
• Grading practices can diminish interest, encourage easier paths, and reduce quality of thinking in maker education — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)