Children’s choice: motivation after successful completion of a mathematics task

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s motivation choice after successfully completing a mathematical task. Three succeeding measurements took place in two-week intervals. In each measurement a different choice dyad was presented to participating children. After the successful completion of a mathematical activity, participants were asked to make one choice from among three dyads: social reward-tangible reward, social reward-harder task and tangible reward-harder task. Results revealed that children preferred the tangible reward (candy) over other choices and the social reward over the harder task. Logistic regression analyses revealed that children’s choice of a tangible reward cannot be predicted by their mothers’ and fathers’ education and income levels, their mathematical level or their teachers’ reward practices. Educators should be aware of practices that would harm the learner’s inner process in order to avoid those applications in their classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• Tangible rewards
• social rewards
• mastery experiences
• early childhood education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Hüseyin Kotaman received his BSc. Degree in Psychological Guidance from Istanbul University in Turkey. He obtained his Masters and Ph. D. degrees in Early Childhood Education from The Pennsylvania State University at University Park, USA. Currently, he is a faculty member in Department of Child Development at Harran University. He is an active researcher and his research interests include early childhood education, school readiness, emotional intelligence, teacher education, parent education and involvement, educational philosophy.