Are children better motivated by rewards or punishment?

	Project title: Are children better motivated by rewards or punishment?
Difficulty level:	High school
Main link:	None

Hypothesis:

Of those teachers and parents who make a point of not punishing children, a significant proportion turn instead to the use of rewards. The ways in which rewards are used, as well as the values that are considered important, differ among and within cultures.

Materials:

Method:
Subjects:
A. Forty students
B. Approximately aged six to nine.
C. Twenty males and twenty females with similar physical health.
D. Subjects were selected from local elementary school from the grade one to three classes.
E. Subjects were found at Lilooet Elementary School after parents completed a consent form for their child to take part.
F. Subjects were approached in a group.
G.The control group consists of forty subjects who receive rewards or punishment.
Apparatus:
A.Equipment: Pen, paper, Parental Consent Forms, and cup cake treats.
B.Produce a data sheet to record results.
C.Local Elementary School (Building).

The Procedure:

1)Arrange experiment with principal and teachers.
2)Have children take Parental Consent Form home.
3)Approach children that have completed form to take part in experiment while in groups.
4)Arrange with teacher to instruct class and offer those that complete their homework assignment by the next morning will be rewarded with a cupcake.
5)Arrange with teacher the following day to instruct class and inform students that those that do not complete their homework by the next morning will be punished by mean of a lunch hour detention.
6)Give cupcakes to students that complete their homework.The following day those that do not complete their homework on time, explain the experiment to them, and offer them a cupcake.
7)Record results in data sheet.

Results:

Good values have to be grown from the inside out. Attempts to short-circuit this process by dangling rewards in front of children are at best ineffective, and at worst counterproductive. Children are likely to become enthusiastic, lifelong learners as a result of being provided with an engaging curriculum; a safe, caring community in which to discover and create; and a significant degree of choice about what, how, and why they are learning. Rewards – like punishments – are unnecessary when these things are present, and are ultimately destructive in any case.