How a token-based game may elicit the reward prediction error and increase engagement of students in elementary school. A pilot study
A quick dice roll for bonus tokens can double correct math work in two weeks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Eckert et al. (2023) turned a plain token board into a math game for late-elementary classes. Kids earned tokens for every correct problem, then rolled dice for a chance at bonus tokens.
Two classes played the game for two weeks. Two matched classes kept the normal token board with no dice or extras. The team counted correct math problems each day.
What they found
The game group doubled their correct math work in only ten school days. The no-game group stayed near their baseline.
Kids talked about the dice roll all week. Teachers said the surprise bonus kept even the slow workers trying.
How this fits with other research
The result lines up with Betancourt et al. (1971), who first showed that unpredictable tokens flip preschoolers’ task likes. Eckert moves the same idea up to fourth grade and ties it to math output.
Kim et al. (2024) tried a tougher online token schedule with second graders and saw mixed gains. The simpler dice twist in Eckert’s room worked for everyone, showing younger kids may need lighter odds.
Normand et al. (2020) used a team step-count game and also saw a quick jump. Both studies show that a small game layer on top of tokens can boost engagement without extra teacher time.
Why it matters
You can add a dice cup to any token board tomorrow. Let students roll for bonus tokens after every five correct answers. The surprise keeps the reward system fresh and can lift work output fast, even in mixed-ability classes.
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Join Free →Tape a ‘Bonus Roll’ sign to your token board and hand the dice to a student after every five correct answers.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Student engagement is essential to academic success and student-wellbeing. In the past, fostering engagement though extrinsic rewards has often been found to be of limited effectiveness over the long term. However, extrinsic rewards are important for improving engagement with non-intrinsically rewarding activities. Thus, in the present study a mechanism that is meant to prolong the effects of extrinsic rewards was investigated: the reward prediction error. This error occurs when rewards are awarded contrary to the awardee’s expectations. In a quasi-experiment, 39 elementary school students participated in a classroom-based game, which was supposed to motivate them to solve math exercises. It combined reinforcement with elements of luck, which were supposed to elicit the reward prediction error. After 2 weeks, the intervention group had completed significantly more math exercises compared to a pretest and, importantly, also more correctly solved exercises than a control group. This suggests that game-based reinforcement that elicits the reward prediction error might help to increase student engagement over the medium term. It furthermore highlights the importance of applying gamification elements not only digitally but also in analog settings.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2023 · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1077406