Do coins and stars in learning apps hurt motivation?

Not every star does harm. But research shows that expected, tangible rewards for doing something reduce the wish to do it voluntarily later (a review of 128 experiments, Deci, Koestner and Ryan, 1999). Praise that says something about the performance tends to help.

How can I tell my child is only practising for the reward?

Typical signs: they ask about coins first, repeat easy levels, tap fast instead of calculating, stop once the shop goal is reached, and can't say what they practised.

Should I ban the learning app?

Usually not necessary, and often it's homework. More effective: ask about the hardest problem instead of the score, turn off streak reminders, use a visible timer and move part of the practice to paper.

Does Talentists have coins or streaks?

No. The device only runs the 5-minute check; practice happens on paper in the printed workbook. The test and worksheets are free, personalised workbooks cost €29 once for 6 months, with no subscription.

My child just collects coins: rewards in learning apps

Many families know the scene. Your child spends half an hour on the learning app, focused and happy. Ask what they practised today and the answer is: “I got 200 coins!” Which problems they did, they can't remember. But they know exactly what the next hat for their avatar costs.

That's not a character flaw. Your child is doing exactly what the app rewards. If fast tapping earns coins, they tap fast. If easy levels pay as much as hard ones, they play easy levels. Children are brilliant at working out what gets counted.

Why coins work so well

Coins, stars, badges and streaks aren't a teaching invention; they come from game design. They work instantly, they're visible, and they give a reason to come back tomorrow. For an app, that's a clear goal: usage. For your child, the goal is different: being able to do maths.

Most of the time the two goals sit close together. Trouble starts where they drift apart, and that happens sooner than you'd think. In many apps, one hard problem you puzzle over for two minutes earns less than ten easy ones clicked through in the same time. A coin collector quickly learns to avoid the hard ones.

What research says about rewards

Psychologists have known this effect since the 1970s. In a classic experiment (Lepper, Greene and Nisbett, 1973), preschoolers who expected a certificate for drawing later drew less in their free time than children who got no reward or an unexpected one. Drawing had turned from a pleasure into work for a prize.

A large review of 128 experiments (Deci, Koestner and Ryan, 1999) found a similar picture: expected, tangible rewards for doing an activity reduce the wish to do it voluntarily later. Praise that says something about the performance tends to help instead.

That doesn't mean every star does harm. It means what matters is what gets rewarded, and whether the reward replaces the actual feedback. “Right, and you made the ten first” is feedback. “+10 coins” isn't.

Signs the coin has become the point

A few signs parents often describe. Each on its own is harmless; together they're a pattern:

The first question about a problem is “How many coins do I get?”
Your child repeats levels they mastered long ago and skips the ones where they get stuck.
They tap fast and guess instead of calculating, because speed pays more than thinking.
They stop once the shop goal is reached, not when the practice is done.
The end of practice time turns into a fight, because a streak or bonus is at stake.
They can't say what they practised today, only what they earned.

What helps, without banning the app

Taking the app away is rarely necessary, and often it's homework anyway. It works better to steer attention back to the problems:

Ask about the problem, not the score: “Show me the hardest problem from today. How did you solve it?”
Turn off reminders and streak notifications. Practice happens when you plan it, not when the app calls.
Set a visible frame: a timer your child can see spares you the argument at the end.
Praise the method, not the result: “You tried doubling, good idea.” That's exactly the kind of feedback that builds motivation.
Move part of the practice to paper. Ten minutes with a worksheet, where the working is visible, tell you more than a week of scores.
Check what the app shows you: can you see which topics are solid and where mistakes happen? If not, after four weeks you'll only know how many coins it was.

Schools are drawing a line too

How devices are used in primary school is being renegotiated politically too. The German state of Hesse, for example, has banned private use of phones, smartwatches and tablets on school grounds from the 2025/26 school year (section 69(7) of the Hessian Schools Act). At primary schools, exceptions are only for lessons with the teacher's permission, emergencies and medical reasons.

The idea behind it works at home too: the device is a tool for a specific purpose, not the default state.

How we handle it at Talentists

We deliberately chose no coins, no streaks and no badges. The device only does what a device does better: a 5-minute check that shows which topics are solid and which wobble. Practice then happens on paper, in the printed workbook, with a pencil and visible working. If a problem won't budge, a QR code leads to a calm explanation, and then it's back to paper.

The test and the worksheets are free. Personalised workbooks with feedback cost €29 once for 6 months, with no subscription. And there's nothing to collect except correctly solved problems.

Rewards aren't the problem. The problem is a reward that becomes more important than the problem itself. The best reward in maths is still the moment a problem that was hard yesterday simply works out today.