If you think back to some games you have played, what can be more fun than an unexpected reward? Unexpected rewards can be fun AND motivating.

On the day that I pass back the first exam, I walk around with a bag of plastic gold coins. I hand one to each student who earned the full 3 points on the exam. (That means they leveled up by meeting the performance benchmarks on each HW assignment and quiz, and also scored 80% or better on the pencil & paper exam.) The classroom starts to buzz. Students are wondering what’s up with the coins. A couple of students will be saddened to learn that the coins are not chocolate. An occasional student will be saddened to find out that the coin is not actually made of gold, but that’s pretty rare.

When I am done giving the coins to the students I explain that they can turn in their coin to open any one assignment or quiz. My theory is that their performance deserves some benefit, and being able to save yourself from a missed assignment is a nice perk. I will not reopen any assignment unless a student gives me a coin.

Daniel Pink in his book Drive explains that expected rewards can actually “de-motivate” students. (If you haven’t read his book, you need to. It will open your eyes as to how to get students to respond.) I believe that this is true. To avoid this problem, I tell the students that there may be other benefits for students who still have coins left at the end of the semester. This way they are never sure exactly what will happen. And I like it that way.

I just passed back the first elementary algebra exam and will write a new post in which I will discuss how I will proceed from here. Spoiler Alert: I gave out 7 coins in a class of 44 students.