Peter Bogosian of Groton, an eighth grader, presented his project “What Motivates People?” at Oak Meadow School’s recent Science Fair. Peter hypothesized that incentives produce greater effort and performance from children than disincentives. He tested his theory with a classroom of second graders playing a game. One group was offered a reward at the end if they did well. A second group had a reward taken away from them at the end if they did poorly. Peter determined that the effect of the incentive was more individual than global.