The effects of access to a playroom on the rate and quality of printing and writing of first and second-grade students.
Let kids earn a few minutes of play right after writing is checked—speed and neatness both rise fast.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers watched 12 first- and second-graders during daily writing time.
Kids could earn 5–10 minutes in a playroom if their writing met a simple goal.
The team flipped the reward on and off four times to be sure the playroom caused any change.
What they found
When the playroom was on the table, kids wrote faster right away.
Small drops in spelling and letter errors also showed up.
Later, the team cut the whole session by 10 minutes and speed jumped again.
How this fits with other research
Berrett et al. (2018) used a similar single-case logic in third-grade math.
Both studies show that clear, quick rewards lift academic work in real classrooms.
Noda et al. (2013) found that poor attention hurts Grade 2 writing.
Burgess et al. (1971) proves that even kids with attention issues can write faster if the payoff is fun and immediate.
Sawyer et al. (2014) showed that some kids struggle because of vision or motor gaps.
The 1971 study adds that, once those gaps are ruled out, simple playroom access can still be the missing piece.
Why it matters
You can set up a tiny play corner or iPad station. Tell the child, Finish five neat sentences, then 5 minutes of play. Track the work rate for one week. Most BCBAs see a jump in the first day or two.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The major dependent variable was the rate at which first and second-grade students printed or wrote daily copying assignments. Data were also taken on the percentage of letters scored as errors according to a set of scoring criteria. Initially, these data were collected during a baseline condition in which each child returned to his seat as soon as his completed work had been scored, to wait for the rest of the class to finish their assignments. When the children were allowed to go to a playroom after their papers had been scored, there was a reliable increase in the mean printing or writing rates. Subsequent introductions of the baseline and playroom conditions replicated the relative effectiveness of access to the playroom to produce higher work rates. Finally, the total amount of time allowed for children to complete their assignments and then play was progressively reduced from 50 to 35 minutes. A progressive increase in work rates was correlated with these changes. Throughout the experiment, there was considerable variability in the mean number of letters scored as errors but there was a clear trend towards fewer errors.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1971 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1971.4-77