The PIN Reward Program and Learning Motivation in Al-Qur’an and Hadith at SMP Terpadu Muhammadiyah Gayo Lues

Abstract

This study examines the influence of the PIN reward program on Grade VII students’ learning motivation in the subject of Al-Qur’an and Hadith at SMP Terpadu Muhammadiyah Gayo Lues. A qualitative descriptive design was used, with one subject teacher and fifteen students as informants; data were collected through classroom observation and observation of award ceremonies, semi-structured interviews, and study of program guidelines and attendance records. The findings indicate that the pin does not operate primarily as a reward that students value in itself, but as a marker that renders effort visible in a classroom where memorization progress is otherwise private. Because the operative mechanism is public accounting rather than reinforcement alone, two findings usually treated as weaknesses become explicable: motivation declines after a pin is received because the account has been settled, and complaints of unfairness are disproportionately damaging because they attack the legibility of the criteria rather than the size of the reward. Clarity of criteria proved more consequential than the value of the award itself. The study concludes that symbolic reward programs should be designed as continuous and transparent systems of recognition, accompanied by teacher commentary connecting recorded achievement to the intention behind learning, so that their effects do not terminate in momentary enthusiasm.