Classroom Cash Incentive Plan

How would you like to be able to buy the right to sit wherever you want to sit in economics class? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to earn the money to pay a teacher for an assignment instead of having to do the work yourself? If you play your cards right you may be able to do just that. You will participate in a classroom incentive program that will pay you for doing what is asked of you in class on a daily basis. Attendance, good behavior, and work completion will allow you to spend the classroom cash you will earn on luxuries that you want. Make good choices every day and you will be compensated.

In this lesson you will learn how the incentive program affects the personal choices you make in class. You will also analyze how economic incentives can affect behavior.

Economic incentives are the additional rewards or penalties people receive from engaging in more or less of a particular activity. At the start of the program, you will answer the survey below; your responses will give the teacher a good idea of what classroom privileges are important to you, thus helping the teacher to gauge the level of demand for privileges and set prices based on demand. You will also be asked to record your data about how you benefited or incurred costs during the week.

Evaluate the following alternative solutions to this problem.

1. Look at the 6 choices from the following survey. Analyze the possible costs and benefits of each privilege. How would each of these potential rewards help overall classroom behavior? How would each of these potential rewards hurt overall classroom behavior?
    
2. Which privilege would provide the best incentive for positive classroom behavior at the least cost to the rest of the class?
    
3. Enter your choice in the following survey and compare it to the choices made by other students who have completed this lesson.

Take Survey

The results of the survey should show your class which privilege is the most important and which is the least important. Based on these results, your class can now determine ways in which to earn "money" that can be spent toward the purchase of the above privileges. Each task/activity needs to be assigned a value so you and your teacher can keep track of how much each person in class has earned. For example, handing in an assignment on time may be worth more than showing up to class on time. A list of ideas has been supplied below to get you started.

• showing up to class on time
• hand in an assignment on time
• asking a relative, thought provoking question in class
• individual attendance record
• class attendance record
• quiz score (average over a certain percentage and student/class earns extra cash)

Now that you have come up with ways to earn money that can be used to purchase the incentives, you need to decide what to use for cash. As a class, decide on a form of currency to use with the Classroom cash Program. A list of possibilities has been provided below.

• poker chips
• class/individual tally on chalkboard
• punch cards
• checkbook

Finally, before implementing the Classroom cash Program you must decide if there will be fines or penalties that can be charged during its use. For example, if students hand in homework late or are tardy to class, should they be penalized for their actions and if so how much?

You should now be ready to begin using the classroom cash plan in your own classroom. However, before starting, think about what makes things valuable to you while answering the following questions:

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1. How has this program changed your approach to behavior while in the classroom?
    
2. What specific benefit have you seen from this program?
    
3. Have you seen any negative consequences from this program?
    
4. Would you like this program to be continued? Why or why not?

While participating in the Classroom cash Program, you have experienced on a daily basis how an incentive can affect personal behavior. List as many economic concepts that were covered by this program as you can think of. Be prepared to share this with the rest of the class.

This is your chance for lesson feedback. Based on the incentives your class chose, answer the following questions including as many examples as you would like.

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1. What makes the items listed in the survey valuable to you?
    
2. Do you think students in other states would agree?
    
3. What is the subjective nature of incentives?
    
4. Do the incentives have the same value across all states? Why or why not?
    
5. Were there any items on the survey that you would not consider an incentive? Why or why not?
    
6. Why do you think the rewards listed would help or hurt classroom behavior?
    
7. Create a list of what costs you would put on different incentives (you may use those listed in the survey and others you have thought of).

What do you think of this activity? Pretend you are in charge of asking the organization which "funds" your program with classroom cash for continued funding. Based on your own experiences with the program, write an essay that would explain your point of view. You will need to include a detailed explanation of the program and an analysis of its benefits. Make sure to include supporting visuals such as graphs, charts, and/or spreadsheets.

OR

Pretend you are the person in charge of the organization that "funds" us with classroom cash. Determine if you will continue or cease funding for the program. Write an essay explaining your reason why. Make sure to include a detailed explanation as to why you made your decision. You will also need to include any supporting visuals such as graphs, charts, and/or spreadsheets.