| Popis: |
Game-based behavioural interventions provide a potential solution to classroom management issues faced by teachers at all levels. Schools typically focus on the encouragement of positive behaviour in modern behaviour management and positive game-based interventions hold promise in addressing behaviour issues in the classroom. The current thesis was concerned with collating research on game-based interventions and evaluating an established positive intervention, the Caught Being Good Game (CBGG) in Irish mainstream classrooms. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 detailed a systematic review that collated research on game-based classroom management interventions in mainstream education. Findings indicated that many game-based classroom management interventions exist, with most of the research being conducted in the United States of America. Effect size calculations and a series of meta-analyses suggested that game-based interventions had moderate to large effects on classroom behaviour. This review led to the identification of the CBGG as an intervention warranting evaluation in Irish schools. The CBGG was evaluated across Chapters 3-5, focusing on procedural variations and diverse contexts. In Chapter 3, the CBGG, both with and without visual feedback, was found to be effective in targeting academically engaged behaviour (AEB) and disruptive behaviour (DB) across three classes of young adolescents. In Chapter 4, the CBGG effectively targeted AEB and DB across an all-male middle primary school class, and two individual target students within the class. Chapter 5 outlined the effectiveness of the CBGG in targeting AEB and DB in a mixed-sex, early primary school class and with two individual students in that class. The CBGG remained effective as the schedule of reinforcement was thinned - a potentially useful method for reducing workload for the teacher. In Chapter 6, consideration was given to the findings in the context of the existing literature, strengths and limitations of the programme, and implications for future research and practice. |
