Good Behaviour Game in The Classroom

The article “Effects of the Good Behaviour Game Across Classroom Contexts ”, written by Brittany Pennington and Jennifer J. McComas, published in The Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, in the 2017 winter edition, explores the impact that the Good Behaviour Game has on the positive behaviours in children in a classroom setting. Pennington and McComas describe the Good Behaviour Games as something a teacher does, where they break down the class into smaller groups and award points for every time they are focusing on their responsibilities as a group or conforming to the rules set in place.

The teachers have the ability to manipulate the point system structure to essentially praise the good behaviours or give incentive to avoid problematic behaviours. Qualified observers spent a total of 7 weeks at this particular school, visiting 3 out of the 5 days there. They focused on 3 students, one girl and two boys, all aged around 8 years old, and of Native American descent and either diagnosed or at risk of Emotional Behavioural Disorder. They are from a school in the city where it is implied that the students come from lower-income homes. The observers chose two different times where they would record data, during the beginning of “Morning Meetings” and their “Math Rotations”. Each child showed a significant increase in positive behaviours while there was the possibility of winning a prize, whereas when the game finished, they would return to their normal behaviours.

The Results of this study showed that the game does increase the positive behaviours but once the game finishes, their efforts to stay focused and to following the rules ceases. Pennington and McComas suggest that they have bring in a new reinforcement that can branch out and have significance to other aspects in an individual’s life in order to prolong the effects of the game. Although the article only focused on 3 children and that can cause many limitations. Individuals are unique and no one person handles certain situations and environments the same, therefore the Good Behaviour Game may not be effective for everyone(Pennington, & McComas, 2017).