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 VALUE OF DIFFERENT INCENTIVES COULD BE DETERMINED. RESULTS SHOWED THAT INCENTIVES AFFECTED LEARNING POSITIVELY AND THAT CHILDREN WOULD PREFER VERBAL TO MATERIAL REWARDS WHEN GIVEN RELEVANT MOTIVATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS AND A FAVORABLE INCENTIVE SCHEDULE. THE NOVELTY OF UNEXPECTED REWARDS PROVIDED GREATER LEARNING INCENTIVE. HOWEVER, A DELAY IN RECEIVING REWARDS GENERALLY IMPAIRED LEARNING. ADDITIONAL STUDIES, USING THE SAME DIFFERENTIAL METHOD, SHOULD FURTHER CONSIDER THE SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIP OF REWARD TIMING AND TASK-RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONS TO MOTIVATION. DOCUMENT ED 010 530 WAS AN INTERIM REPORT OF THIS PROJECT. (MS)