Rewards and Motivation in Primary Education

Running head: PRIMARY EDUCATION
PRIMARY EDUCATION
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1
PRIMARY EDUCATION
Response to question 1:
Rewards help to motivate student behavior in the classroom but it has some negative
effects as well. Teachers have for long focused on rewarding students for good behavior. Student
motivation is an important aspect of classroom practice because it shapes the behavior of the
student. McClurg and Morris (2014) found that the rewards that most help the students to shape
their behaviors include good grades in the final exam, good grades in the course and the fear of
receiving bad grades. However, the study focused on the reward system in higher school
students. When it comes to students in primary education, the rewards that best work for
motivation are praise from the teachers and other material gifts.
One of the biggest positive things about the practice of rewarding students is the
achievement of their appropriate behavior. Students feel motivated to behave appropriately when
they are rewarded either extrinsically or intrinsically. Another positive effect of rewarding the
students is the boost in self-confidence and self-esteem. When they receive a reward, it makes
them more confident in them and they endeavor towards repeating the behavior to achieve better
results. Vijayan, Chakravarthi and Philips (2016) have also found that rewarding students for
their good behavior such as completing homework has yielded great results for the school and
the students.
In contrast to the positive effects, the practice of rewarding students sometimes leads to
negative outcomes. One of the concerning effects of this practice is that it makes the students
addicted to rewards and they do not feel motivated by any other way except rewards. In the TED
Talk about the “puzzle of motivation”, Dan Pink talks about the devaluation of rewards (Pink,