REINFORCEMENT IN EDUCATION.By MPOGOLE,VITUCE.J.TEKU/BEDCP/101581.vitucempogole@gmail.com

Reinforcement is a stimulus which increases the probability of a response recurring. The process through which the behavior is reinforced is referred to as schedule of reinforcement. There are two forms of reinforcements namely, continuous reinforcement and intermittent or partial reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement involves rewarding an individual time s/he gives right response where as intermittent reinforcement involves rewarding an organism after s/he has given more than one correct responses (Mwamwenda,2004:177).
Intermittent  reinforcement can be categorized into four responses which are:
Fixed ratio schedule. Here an individual is given reward after completion of a unit of work or activity. A unit might consist of several responses but a doer will be rewarded collectively.
Fixed interval schedule. This is the kind of reinforcement in which an individual is given after a certain period of time to elapse. Example  a teacher to administer a test after a month.
Variable ratio schedule. An individual is given reward in average of the correct responses. Example doer can be rewarded singly for the average of ten responses.
Variable interval schedule.In this form of intermittent reinforcement an individual is reinforced on basis of similar to variable ratio reinforcement except that the criterion for reinforcement is time instead of amount of work done. Reinforcement can be given in average of ten hours for exampled(Mwamwenda,2004:177).