Page 36 - Demo

Why is it important NOT to offer children rewards for learning? We know a woman whose husband wanted her to lose weight. He even offered her a sky-blue convertible if she could reach her goal. Long story short, she%u2019s still driving her green SUV. Weight loss was his focus, not hers. The thought of the new car motivated her for a while, but not long enough to take the pounds off.It%u2019s the same with young children. When well-meaning adults offer them rewards for learning, it may seem like children are motivated, but these types of motivation for learning last only for a little while.Want research to back it up? Although research shows us that rewards provide some motivation for learning over the short term, in the long term they disrupt the behaviors they were designed to promote. If a student is already motivated to do an activity to begin with, the expectation of a reward interferes with his long-term interest in that activity. Other studies have shown that too much praise makes children perform to get the praise, rather than truly exploring and learning. In the long run over-praised children become unable to perform without constant approval.IDEA636