Which is better to teach children by using rewards (verbal, tangible) or intrinsic motivation?

Question

Alex s tou have given up too soon on tour students. By the way not all children would pic to learn about video games etc... Don't generalize. I understand that teaching is a challenge, what I don't understand is why you would have to bribe your students to learn using rewards or punishments. What you lack is individualization... Have you asked your students what they want to learn about history and take it from there? vs shoving the same old repetative stuff? ei. like every year for decades almost every school asign children to build missions to display. It's rediculus to the point that Michaels the craft stores orders them every year! I see the same repetative thing every year...no wonder kids don't have any thing to look forward to.

Answer 1

Research has shown intrinsic motivation is better, especially in the long run, and that rewards, if overused, can actually turn children off to learning.

Unfortunately, the problem with intrinsic motivation is that it is intrinsic! You can't instill it in someone else no matter how hard you try.

Some of my students come into my class already liking history. Others come to enjoy it because I make every effort to make my class interesting and fun. But some hate it, and no matter what I do they will always hate it. This is true for any required course. For those kids, rewards (including grades) are the only option.

Alfie Kohn is the most well-known author on this topic. His ideal school is one where students choose all their own courses and even design their own curricula. While I agree this would solve the problem of motivation, I also think you would end up with a lot of kids studying things like video games, skateboarding, and football, and very few studying English, math, history, science, foreign language, etc.

Answer 2

Students who are intrinsically motivated will do better. Unfortunately, very few students these days ARE intrinsically motivated, and rewards are often needed until they can internalize the motivation.

Answer 3

Intrinsic motivation! Using rewards is often simply a "band-aid". Extrinsic motivation, such as using rewards, can also be harmful to students' intrinsic motivation.

Answer 4

i think the best would be a combination of all, because you would more effectively motivate the class as a whole. different children are driven by different desires.