Reinforcement in Education

 I found a very interesting article on the use of reinforcement in school settings, linked here: https://online.ewu.edu/degrees/education/med/early-childhood-education/positive-reinforcement-in-learning/ 

Reinforcement is anything that will increase a behavior, as opposed to punishment that decreases the behavior (Berg, 2025). Throughout our lives we are socialized through reinforcement and punishment alike, but I think a lot of us work harder for a reward than out of fear of a punishment for undesired behavior. Children are given stars in school for getting questions right, an early form of positive reinforcement. According to Eastern Washington University, reinforcement is vital in the cognitive development of young minds (para #5, 2024). We have all been through the school system and know that teachers frequently reward students for hard work in their studies in order to motivate them to excel. Even grades themselves seem to be a form of positive reinforcement, as the good feeling you get when your paper is returned with an "A" motivates you to keep going with the same work ethic. Do you find that there are any examples of positive reinforcement that helped you in your education? Feel free to share if you leave a comment, and check out the article if you're curious to learn more about reinforcement in schools. 

References 

Berg, M. (2025). Motivation [Google Slides Presentation]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LuIvBGeeew7LCtLKyj9dQJqXbL9xh4eUi62rkeuEV8M/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p 

Eastern Washington University. (2024, May 16). Benefits of positive reinforcement in learning environments. https://online.ewu.edu/degrees/education/med/early-childhood-education/positive-reinforcement-in-learning/