How does practice make progress?

For 5- to 8-year-olds who speak English and are located in the United States. Each child can only participate a single time.

In this study, your child will hear a story in which characters make different decisions about how to practice a ring toss game, and experience different outcomes (e.g., success or failure). Your child will be asked to make predictions and judgments about the characters in the story.

When children fail, they need to understand that sometimes it is helpful to embrace failure in pursuit of a goal, but other times, failure can be a useful cue to shift strategies. We are interested in how children come to understand difficulty as a productive part of the learning process. As an initial step, this study investigates how children predict a character's performance from past accuracy.

15 minutes

Families will be entered into a drawing to receive a $50 (USD) Amazon gift card. After the study has concluded data collection (no later than May 2026), families will be contacted about drawing results, and the winning family will receive the gift card. Your family will be entered into this drawing even if your child is unable to complete the whole study. However, to be entered in the drawing, your child must be within the age range of the study, clearly visible on camera, and reside in the United States.