Positive Reinforcement Topics for Science Fair Projects

Psychology science fair projects explore the minds of seventh grade students...

Positive Reinforcement

What is positive reinforcement? It is the echange of a reward for a desired behavior.

Objectives/Goals

The question was asked: Do underperforming seventh graders perform better in reading comprehension if they know they will be creating with Legos after reading the selection? The objective was to find out if underperforming seventh graders did better on a reading comprehension quiz if, before reading the selection, they knew they would have to create something from the selection using Legos.

Methods/Materials

Materials: Legos, McCall-Crabbs Test Lessons in Reading.
Methods: Students in a strategic (underperforming) seventh grade language arts class were divided into small groups. Each day, all groups were given two levels of reading selections and comprehension quizzes. A different group each day was chosen to create with Legos. The group was told before reading the selections that it had been chosen to create with Legos that day, and that they were to create something from one of the reading selections. The experiment was repeated for three days, with a different group creating with Legos each day.

Results

Underperforming seventh graders do perform better in reading comprehension when they know they are creating with Legos afterward.

Conclusions/Discussion

The implication of this study is that schools should be creating opportunities for creative expression and hands-on learning if test scores are to rise. As this is NOT what is currently happening, I recommend further investigation on this matter. 3rd party contributor