Rewarding positive behavior is a social norm. As it relates to learning, Parents reward their child’s positive learning behaviors and learning accomplishments. Teachers encourage positive behavior in classroom regularly – many students come back home with stickers and badges, which is their reward for positive behavior. By reinforcing positive behavior, Parents & Teachers create the expectation that positive actions and behaviors lead to rewards, thus encouraging more positive actions & behaviors and help establish social norms
Today we will discuss at a high level common questions Parents have on what does “Linking Rewards to Learning” mean in the context of Zeacu. In subsequent posts, I will delve into the mechanisms Zeacu uses to offer this valuable tool to Parents on their child’s learning journey.
What does Linking Rewards to Learning mean?
At the highest level, this is a well-established method for many Parents of linking Rewards to learning behaviors and/or learning outcomes based on where their child is on his/her learning journey. An example serves best to understand: Lets say, your child comes to you and asks for the latest basketball shoe that has been released. After thinking about it, you say, “You know, you don’t really need another shoe. So, how about we make a deal? You can earn this shoe by learning about a topic that is important – Climate Change. We will set a date by which you must complete learning about this topic, and you would have earned it. Once you earned it, I promise we will go out and buy this shoe for you”. Your child protests a little and asks “Why?”. You respond, “Climate change is an important topic that your school doesn’t cover. And by reading about it, you will learn new words, improve your vocabulary and build knowledge – all of this can only help you”. Your child sees that this is the only way he/she is going to get her new shoe, and agrees. Congratulations, you have successfully set up a win-win situation!
Can you compare Zeacu's approach vs. traditional alternatives used by Parents?
Our team has put together a great infographic that compares Zeacu with alternatives Parents use. I’ll summarize the key differences here: Using an ad-hoc approach vs. a structured (rules based) approach, better alignment of rewards that your child desires, more parental oversight of how and where your child uses the reward the’ve earned, and management of partially earned rewards.
