Teachers should respond to children's writing in positive, encouraging ways. (DD)

A procedure for providing necessary and sufficient practice on basic skills, while still providing other mathematical experiences that balance an interesting mathematics program, is discussed. (JT)

Two related experiments were designed to investigate the reinforcement potency of children's reading materials. After determining the preferences of third graders for various reading materials, listening to recorded tapes of these materials was used as a reward for correct responses on reading exercises. Significant differences among materials…

Twenty-four children (8- to 10-years-old) received 20 individual remedial reading lessons each. (Author)

This article describes ways in which physical education teachers may influence shy children in order to reduce their shy behavior by working closely with them to encourage class participation, motivating them to develop new skills, and offering positive reinforcement of pro-social behavior. Twelve steps are described. (JL)

A behavior management program which uses play money to motivate students and reinforce appropriate behavior helps elementary school students (including disabled students) develop responsibility for their behavior. All students in the class participate and are allowed to buy items from the class store with money earned. (CB)

Studies the effect of implicit reinforcement on 32 fourth-graders; subjects copied the letters of the alphabet under varying reward conditions. (Author/CI)

The inhibitions which adults feel about praising themselves can be communicated to children. The existence of these inhibitions may help explain why few teachers directly teach children to praise themselves. Yet this type of teaching can be incorporated with other school experiences and can be a powerful tool in helping the child to be…

The effects of contingent reinforcement under conditions of self-determined and externally determined standards were studied in two fifth-grade language art classes (N=64 students). Contingent reinforcement with externally determined standards produced an increase over reinforcement with self-determined standards. Experience with external…

Examines the hypothesis that an attentional preference for an imitator is a function of the magnitude of reinforcement associated with that person, and measures response uncertainty, a construct considered important in the effectance arousal theory often used to explain "being imitated" effects. (Author/RH)

A study of feedback delay, expectation, and development was conducted in grades four, six, and eight, to assess whether feedback on a school related learning task serves an informational or reinforcing function. Results indicate that feedback serves an informational function and delayed feedback facilitates retention, contrary to reinforcement…

Jogging was used to modify disruptive behavior as part of the classroom routine for 12 learning disabled elementary-grade boys. The number of incidents of each of five negative behaviors were reduced by half following the 10-minute jogging routine. (SBH)

Children in the response-cost condition required more trials to reach a performance criterion and exhibited longer response times than children receiving reinforcement only. Response cost appeared to produce a negative effect that interfered with problem solving ability. (Author/RL)

In two experiments, the effects of prior reinforcement for compliance and noncompliance with adults' instructions were assessed with respect to the incidence of nonreinforced imitation of that adult in a subsequent modeling situation. Subjects were 15 boys and 15 girls of kindergarten age. (MS)