Discussion on delayed gratification

This TED talk "Don't eat the marshmallow" explores the theory that the ability to delay gratification is one of the most essential ingredients for success in life. How does this concept apply to school?

Some students question de Posada's definition of "success", and wonder if it is the same as theirs, but most of them found this 6 minute TED Talk interesting and provocative.

Adolescent Brain TED talk

We recently watched this TED talk about adolescent brain development.

Some take-away points

1. Adolescence is an important period in one's brain development
2. Grey matter is pruned by activities that are typically engaged with, so the greater the variety of engagement the better.
3. It is very difficult for adolescents to gain perspective.

Some points made by GOLD students

1. While point #2 may be valid, this should not be used as a reason to limit our time on games/computres, because tasks in games are similar to tasks we will have later in real life.
2. The speaker argues that her evidence leads to the conclusion that more of the world's adolescents should be in school, but perhaps they should be out of school, and engaged in more active, creative and real-world endeavours.