Rewards and Punishments

A surprising discovery made through Dr. Maria Montessori's observation of the first group of children in a children's house, in Rome Italy in 1907.

No need for rewards or punishment—Children have an Intrinsic Desire to learn. Observation of children has led to the knowledge that a child’s desire to learn comes from within and so rewards and praise are not necessary and can even decrease that intrinsic desire. From a recent study today, (years later after Montessori discovered this keep in mind) when two groups of children were given a task and one group promised a reward at the end and the other no reward—children in the group given a reward did it more quickly and would not repeat. The other children would take their time—showing that sustained interest leads to a deeper understanding. Again this was so surprising to Montessori that many experiments and further observation were necessary for her conclusion to abolish the rewards and punishment technique on children for it did no good and even could do damage to that internal drive in children.