R#6

We live in a society of rewards and punishments. This current system is evident in the home, in schools and in the workplace. Children receive an award of a toy for purchasing a Happy Meal. Customers receive an award for purchasing products and using a shopping loyalty card. News reporters write articles regarding the need to reward teachers for student performance. When are the use of rewards and punishments most effective in the classroom?

After reading the articles this week by Noddings,Chance and Kohn, I thought about a video I recently watched about the use of monetary rewards and performance.

Daniel Pink video on motivation:


The study conducted by MIT and other major universities focuses on using a three level incentive as reward for performance on tasks ranging from mechanical to cognitive. The low performers received no reward, the middle performers received some reward and the high performers received a large reward. The findings stated for mechanical skills, the bonus system of rewarding worked. However, as the tasks required additional cognitive skill, the higher the reward resulted in lower performance. Alfie Kohn's statement reflects the findings at MIT, "the more cognitive sophistication and open-ended thinking required, the worse people do when they are working for a reward"(p.123). The video also notes when people are given the opportunity to be self directed, they are engaged and produce more. William James talked to teachers about the importance of gaining a student’s voluntary attention and develop interest in curriculum by connecting it to items of student interest.. In addition, Alfie Kohn discussed the need for curriculum to be engaging and connected to the lives and interests of students. These ideas can help the practice of a classroom teacher. If a reward for great performance resulted in a poorer performance as the need for cognitive skills increased, then teachers should not use rewards for class work. I believe rewards have a place in the classroom in regards to behavior management. I have used rewarding to train students to raise a hand to speak, walk without talking in the hall and even toilet training my own children. The use of rewards did not work for students to perform better on local assessments. One year, the school I worked in decided to reward students who performed better on a mid-year local assessment. My top performing students performed worse and the decision to reward students for performance moved to a reward for effort. Even then, I did not see a large increase in the attention to or excitement for testing by my students.


Chance argued his side quite well, noting the importance of feedback as a reward. I see constructive feedback as a necessary component in the learning process. Yes, the odds of Johnny figuring out 7 + 3 = 10 without some form of reinforcement from a teacher or peer are low. However, lets say Johnny sat on the floor in his classroom and decided to build a castle with LEGOS. Johnny carefully placed seven LEGOs together for a tower. He noticed the tower did not stand as tall as he desired, so had connected three more LEGOs to the top. When Johnny built the second tower for his castle, he reasoned 7 LEGOs plus 3 more. This experience lays the foundation for a teacher to provide feedback to Johnny, praising his discovery and providing the explanation of 7 +3 + 10. I think teachers turn to the use of rewards in a desperate attempt to capture student interest. If teachers could provide a curriculum relevant to their students, allowing choice to study topics of individual interest, the student reward would be intrinsic.