Research supported by grant MH-12627 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and based on a PhD dissertation submitted to George Peabody College.

THE EXTENT TO WHICH INCENTIVES INFLUENCE CHILDREN'S LEARNING WAS STUDIED BY INVESTIGATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT. BOTH VERBAL AND MATERIAL REWARDS WERE OFFERED TO SELECTED GROUPS OF CHILDREN WHICH VARIED IN NUMBER FROM 48 TO 80 CHILDREN. A DIFFERENTIAL METHOD PERMITTED THE CHILDREN TO EXPLORE THE RANGE OF REWARDS SO THAT THE COMPARATIVE…

The relationship between individualized instruction (II) and letter grades is an issue of considerable debate. Ultimately, II and the letter grade system are incompatible. Grading has been a traditional form for ranking or comparing students with respect to performance criteria. The scale typically has been A to F, whereas with individualized…

For training to be successful, the trainer must understand the people he teaches. This booklet describes the individual characteristics and motivation of the disadvantaged trainee and discusses the special problems he faces. This knowledge of the environment and psychological factors affecting the disadvantaged trainee can help the instructor make…

A group of 20 teenagers in a Mobilization for Youth project were involved in the invention and production of educational games. The direct, cooperative participation in such an educational process made the experience a real and creative learning activity which had a comprehensible, achievable goal. These games were not made for competitive sale…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of three different types of reinforcement strategies on spelling achievement among a sample of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged fourth grade public school pupils. The three reinforcement strategies employed involved a concrete reward (candy), a token or symbolic reward…

To determine the effect of background music during classroom instruction in vocabulary and grammar and in the delivery of speeches, sophomore high school students were divided into an experimental group (66 students) and a control group (60 students). For one semester the experimental group heard classical background music during instruction,…

This study compared the effectiveness of verbal and candy reward on the learning of 72 lower class, black preschool children. A combination of the two reward conditions was included to investigate if material reward had a distracting effect. The informational value of the two types of rewards was manipulated to determine if they differed in…

These papers and addresses presented at the New York State Educational Communication Association cover a wide range of topics centering around the general problem of stimulating learning through instructional technology. Specifics range from learning theories, to budgets, and to particular techniques and technologies. (RH)

This investigation sought to determine the relationship, in fifth grade children, between semantic divergent thinking and different types of risk taking. Also studied was the pattern of relationships between types of risk taking behavior and the variables of: (1) types of divergent thinking, (2) need for achievement, (3) sex, and (4) IQ. The…

This study investigated how a child's level and pattern of performance affected teachers' perception of the cause of the hild's performance and teacher's evaluation of the child and his characteristics. Pairs of either teachers, student teachers, or education students participated in the study, accepting the role of participant or observer. The…

At the Learning Center for Anthropology at Santa Fe Community College (Gainesville, Florida), various experiences using different types of media were substituted for the traditional academic menu. (Author)