Research Question:
Does a token economy system increase homework completion of students with learning disabilities?
Maintaining the motivation of students within the classroom can be challenging. Maintaining motivation outside of the classroom is an even greater challenge. Homework is an assignment that requires self-motivation and independence. Often, homework is viewed as a tedious task, which leads to a low completion rate. A token economy is a systematic approach that is used as a motivator to correct on-task behaviors, academic-achievements, social interactions and more. This systematic approach is widely known in special education classrooms. Students with learning disabilities often lack self-motivation and independence. This serves
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The focal point of this study was homework completion and how different strategies can impact learners. The purpose of this study was to examine what motivates a learner. This study consisted of 123 students that were placed into four separate groups: (a) students with learning disabilities and homework problems, (b) students with learning disabilities and no homework problems, (c) average-achieving students with homework problems, and (d) average-achieving students with no homework problem. The results showed that the interventions benefitted the learners with learning disabilities with homework problems and the average-achieving students with homework problems more than the students without. The reasoning for this is because the students with low homework completion lacked motivation, which is a key element in being …show more content…
The main purpose of this case study was to increase a student’s assignment completion and decrease her inappropriate behaviors in the classroom. Three behaviors were recorded: time to complete, number of assignments completed and the frequency of inappropriate behavior. Results showed that two different token systems were effective in improving the participant’s academics and social behavior. Token decreased the amount of time required to complete an assignment, increased work completion, and declined the amount of inappropriate classroom behaviors (Klimas & McLaughlin,
Chapter 9 encompasses three major topics token economy, contingency contract, and behavioral parent training. A token economy is a system for motivating clients to perform adaptive behaviors. Client are rewarded with tokens for completing an adaptive behavior and lose tokens for maladaptive behaviors. This is normally used in a group setting rather than for an individual. Joseph Lancaster set up a token economy system in a school and used the token method to motivate students to perform better academically. The Token economy started in the 19 century here in the United States. The economy today began with a program for hospitalized patients created by Teodoro Ayllon and Nathan Azrin in 1961.
“Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time, how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel about the task, and how long they persist at the task” (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). The biggest question educators face in today’s classroom is what motivates a student to do something and why? Virtually all students are motivated in one way or another. Research of student motivation suggests a theory that emphasizes a social-cognitive perspective. The cognition of students regarding academic work are influenced by social factors, such as messages from the teacher about the difficulty of the task, the perceived abilities of classmates, and the information about the importance of learning the material (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). In this paper the focus will primarily be on those elements within the classroom that influence student motivation and engagement.
teach new skills and decrease challenging behaviors” (pg. 24). Based on my own observation, I’ve seen teachers implement a token economy (e.g., happy faces, stars, and stickers of different forms) to shape and reinforce positive behavior in the classroom. To maintain instructional control, tokens would be delivered immediately to a student when following simple instructions (e.g., following circle time, cleaning
Homework attributes to student success. According to Harris Cooper, a comparison of homework with no homework shows that the average student in a class with homework assigned would score 23 percentile scores higher on tests of the knowledge assessed than students in classes with no homework assigned (4). Cooper’s meta analysis concluded in the early elementary grades, there wasn’t a clear-cut agreement on the benefits of homework. However, in grades 7-9, the percentile gain doubled to twelve from a percentile gain of 6 in grades 4-6. Homework had the greatest effect on high school students grades tenth through twelfth with a percentile gain of 24. The study suggest that as homework’s difficulty and amount increased,, students percentile gains increased(5). The longer it takes to complete homework, the more the benefits increase. Another positive effect of homework is that it leads to better retention of knowledge learned in the school day. This means that if a student is assigned quality homework, it will help the student remember what he or she learned during school. ”Students in the U.S spend less time studying content than other students in different countries (Marzano and Pi...
Many researches have been conducted to investigate what motivates students for better academic performance and whether it has a correlation with achievement motivation.
Keller, John M. (2006). What Are the Elements of Learner Motivation? Retrieved July 4, 2011
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
All teachers dream of the classroom filled with fifteen tranquil, enthusiastic students, all with their note books out and pencils prompt for note taking. This is the classroom where everyone works together, at the same pace, and without any interruptions or distractions. This is the ideal classroom setting. The only problem with this picture is that it does not exist. Students are all different. Kids all learn different ways, and at varying paces. Both Physical and Learning Disabilities can hinder a child’s learning speed and hold them back from the rest of the class. It can be very difficult to identify a child with a learning disability because students can often be misunderstood and labeled as unmotivated and lazy. These students are often ignored and not given enough individual attention, and therefore they experience difficulty and frustration all throughout their education. Teaching students with learning disabilities takes a knowledgeable and understanding teacher and often requires adaptation of the curriculum. The education of these students often needs so much “constant attention and fine tuning if they are to succeed,” (Mather, 3) that they hold the rest of the class back. It is these cases that students should seek an adaptive classroom program and individual attention to work on their problematic areas. The bottom line is these students cannot be allowed to fall through the cracks of our educational system. They need positive reinforcement and individual attention so that they are confident in class and productive when they do their work.
Being motivated is not just about a good end result, but it is about acquiring an ingrained mindset that empowers and directs one’s behavior. (Tan, OS, Parsons, R. D., Hinson, S. L., & Sardo-Brown, D., 2011) Mary Doe can clearly be seen to be unmotivated in learning as seen from her low expectations of success. She is seen to have a low gauge of her ability, which leads to her low confidence, and lowered motivation towards her academics. We will explore the possible causes, as well as solutions to aid the improvement of her motivation in learning.
Theorists believe that motivation within the classroom has its benefits when able to produce work from students. Some students have the ability to work without much motivation. This is known as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where students are able to motivate themselves and produce work at high standard. The students have to be determined to strive and have the self-ability to do the work that is needed (Brewer, Dun, Olszewski, 1988). Students who need more praise and encouragement to produce work come under the category of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is about rewarding the students for their work. If a student is able to get done what they have been asked, they will be rewarded with for example a sticker or a lucky dip. Extrinsic motivation for some students means the reward is...
Student motivation can be affected by several factors. These elements include parent involvement, teacher enthusiasm, rewards, peers, the learner’s environment, personal experiences, personal interests of the student, and self-esteem and self-image.
This day and time motivation seems to be harder to achieve. The use of homework passes and free time would be used as a form of motivation. Students, young and old, appreciate rewards even if it is only verbal praises. Some form of recognition creates a desire to achieve even more. Notes written by the teacher on returned homework or test papers may give inspiration to a shy student. This is also a way in letting the student know that they are an individual who is capable of achieving great things if they really try.
To a certain extent it can be said that without a sense of motivation, whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic, a child’s ability to learn and reach their potential is greatly lessened. Motivation is best described as an internal state that not only arouses and directs behaviour but also helps to maintain it (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). Motivation not only plays a large role in a child’s learning ability, it also shapes a student’s interests and enjoyment of school and study (Martin, 2003). For both pre-service teachers and expert teachers it is easy to see that if a student possesses high motivation to learn, their behaviour towards their school work is more positive and in turn leads to higher academic success, whereas a student with little to no motivation will exhibit negative behavi...
Motivation is really important tool in a learning environment. Also motivation effects student learning and their behavior as well. It directs behavior towards particular targets. Also it effect the decision which students takes. In motivation mainly we have two types which is intrinsically and extrinsically being motivated. For example: when a student is intrinsically motivated they just do it for themselves not because of the reward that they will get back. It’s just because they have their own interest and they enjoy doing that. On the other side, when a student is extrinsically motivated they just do it for the reward that they will get. That’s why in learning process it’s important that each student should
According L K Cardin Smith and S a Fowler from the department of continuing education. “Classroom peers can serve as powerful sources of reinforcement in increasing or maintaining both the positive and negative behaviors of their classmates. In two experiments, we examined the effectiveness of a peer-monitored token system on reducing disruption and nonparticipation during a transition period of a kindergarten class for behaviorally impaired children. Additionally, the effect of providing and subsequently withholding corrective feedback to peer mediators on the accuracy of their point awards was evaluated. Results in Experiment 1 suggest that both teacher- and peer-monitored interventions were successful in decreasing disruption and increasing participation of monitored peers. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that peer monitors could successfully initiate the token system without prior adult implementation. Analysis of the point awards in both experiments indicates that peer monitors consistently awarded points that were earned. However, when corrective feedback was withdrawn the peer monitors frequently awarded points that were not earned, i.e., they rarely withheld points for undesirable behavior. Even so, the monitored peers' disruptive behavior was maintained at low rates.”