The notion that certain systems of reward may inhibit children's desire to participate in educational activities was investigated by reviewing recent research on intrinsic motivation. This research was critiqued from four theoretical perspectives: self-perception theory, personal causation, the overjustification hypothesis, and behavioral…

Typical learned helplessness research has involved the presentation of non-contingent, aversive events followed by measures of performance on subsequent tasks; recent investigations have focused on the effect of non-contingent rewards. To examine the effects of non-contingent rewards on children, two studies were conducted, in which children were…

Developed as part of a project designed to provide a synthesis of the literature and practice relating to the career education of disadvantaged students, this review is intended to inform teachers about research and techniques for motivating disadvantaged students. Section I discusses the nature of motivation and describes the basic human needs…

A study was made: (1) to determine whether children allowed to choose the difficulty levels of their arithmetic problems in a Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) task would show greater engagement in learning than children who were not given a choice, (2) to discover possible patterns in the choices made, and (3) to determine the relationship of…

The author argues that despite the conventional wisdom that schools cannot overcome the effects of socioeconomic status and race on academic achievement, there is a growing body of literature indicating that school climate and students' sense of control of their environment are strongly correlated with achievement. Five school-specific strategies…