Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 86-91).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 86-91). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-123). Also available in print.

This study tests the effectiveness of a program designed to use extrinsic incentives in improving the motivation of disadvantaged students to achieve academic success. This study seeks to determine whether the specific extrinsic rewards provided in the program actually improve the success of students on classroom tests. A secondary purpose of the study is to assess the extent to which that success, if achieved, becomes itself a reinforcement sufficient to maintain continued success in the classroom. Ignoring age and grade, students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades were grouped by their skill level in mathematics and assigned to an individual teacher. The study was conducted during four consecutive two-week periods. Base-line data were obtained during the first two-week period of both experimental and control students under regular classroom conditions. Extrinsic incentives were applied to the experimental group during each of the following two-week periods and identical measures were taken during the same period of both the experimental and control groups. The analysis-of-covariance statistical treatment was used to compare changes on test success. The .05 level of confidence was held as the standard for statistical significance. Two extrinsic incentives, a free movie and a monetary reward, were employed to bring about improved performance on mathematical tests. Separate and combined effects of the incentives were examined for the total group and for subgroups based on sex, ethnicity, and initial mathematics ability.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: p. 61-63.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 42-44.

Intrinsic motivation, the preferred facilitator of performance, may be a relatively stable trait or specific to a given task. This study compared the computer task performances of 207 children in two schools, on the basis of their teachers' reward practices and the experimental reward conditions. Parents' reward practices, teachers' reward practices, and children's trait intrinsic motivation were measured. Baseline task performance scores and the chosen level of difficulty were statistically higher for children who were higher in the Judgment subscale of trait motivation than for those who scored lower on the Judgment subscale. The trait measure was positively related to most of the game scores and difficulty levels of the task motivation. Higher parent reward usage was related to lower SES and to lower achievement. Higher teacher reward usage was positively related to Grade 1 and to higher levels of difficulty. Children who had usually received rewards or who had not usually received rewards, according to a teacher survey of rewarding attitudes and behaviors, were given a challenging task with (a) no mention of rewards or (b) the promise of a reward. Experimental reward conditions consonant with reward experiences related to higher game scores, especially in Grade 1. Experimental reward conditions which differed from reward experiences related to lower game scores after the experimental condition. All scores were higher for Grade 2, except the number of minutes played. The subjects' choice of level of difficulty tended to increase throughout the three trials. The number of minutes played tended to increase during trials in Grade 1 and to decrease in Grade 2. Affect for the task was higher For Grade 2, higher For girls, and higher for Grade 2 children who were lower on the internal Judgment subscale of trait intrinsic motivation. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the relationships among the contingency of teachers' reactions as perceived by the pupils, the pupils' academic performance, and internality. One might expect that children who perceive their teacher as contingently rewarding and punishing would achieve higher grades and test scores than those who view their teachers' reactions as unrelated to their behavior. It is believed that children's perceptions of the contingencies of their teacher's responses may be more highly related to achievement behavior than the teacher's actual distribution of rewards and punishments. Perceived contingency of punishments and rewards may be important determiners of achievement. The perception of punishments as noncontingent is likely to be negatively related to achievement; however, the same may not be true of noncontingent reward. Indiscriminate dispersion of rewards could have a motivating effect or, as one might infer from Paris & Cairns (1972), no effect at all. Internality and achievement are expected to be positively related, perhaps more so for boys than for girls, as the trend of previous evidence suggests. Because of conflicting reports, no firm expectation can be formulated with regard to sex differences and the effectiveness of IAR+ versus IAR- scores.

This study investigates the effect of the student teaching experience on attitudes toward the use of punishment in the classroom. Student teachers in large innercity and suburban secondary schools furnished data, which were analyzed with a semantic differential technique and the Purdue Attitude Scale Toward Any Practice. The study seeks to determine the effect of student teaching on attitudes of prospective teachers toward punishment in the classroom for discipline purposes, as measured by a semantic differential; to determine differences in attitude changes when student teachers were grouped according to sex in pretests and posttests; to determine differences in attitude changes between those in inner-city schools and suburban schools; to determine the effect of student teaching on the attitudes of prospective teachers toward corporal punishment in the classroom as measured by the Purdue Attitude Scale Toward Any Practice. This study concludes that a beginning student teacher's attitudes toward punishment in the classroom changes significantly with experience. Attitudes of student teachers in inner-city schools do not change significantly more than those in suburban schools. Attitudes of female student teachers toward corporal punishment change more than those of males. The rules of the particular school in which the student teacher does his teaching influence the student teacher appreciably.