Do Rewards Boost Creativity?

Alyssa Noland, Chattahoochee High School and Kennesaw State University

Overview of Lesson

Do rewards boost creativity? This lesson allows students to explore whether intrinsic (self-motivation) or extrinsic (physical) rewards are a better motivator for best results on a creativity assessment. Research studies have shown creativity is best motivated by oneself through intrinsic factors, but will these results play out in the classroom?

Student-generated data will be created through different classes completing a task of trying to write the most English words they can out of the phrase “Statistics is fun.” One group will do the activity for fun (intrinsic) as a warm up and another group will do it to win a candy prize (extrinsic). Then, students will develop investigative questions about the two groups in the activity, create hypothesis tests, and statistically compare the data using a t-test for two sample means. Students will conduct their analyses (using a graphing calculator or R statistical software) and interpret their results.

Extensions for this activity could allow students to connect their specific findings with current research on motivation.

Download: Lesson Plan (PDF)
Download: Lesson Plan (Word)
Download: Teacher Data Collection Sheets (Word)
Download: Student Task Handout with Sample Answers (Word)
Download: Student Task Handout (Word)