Date of Award

Fall 12-2016

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Daniel H. Tingstrom

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Brad A. Dufrene

Committee Member 2 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Evan H. Dart

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Abstract

A traditional tootling procedure was implemented along with a public posting component to determine the effects on academically engaged, disruptive, and passive off task behaviors in four general education high school classrooms. The study employed an A/B/B+C multiple baseline design across classrooms. The primary focus of the study was to assess potential increases in academically engaged behavior across intervention conditions. Students in the traditional tootling phase (B) were instructed to report on their peers’ positive, prosocial behaviors. At the end of the class period, the teacher silently read through the tootles and added the total toward the group goal. When the class achieved their goal, they were rewarded with a predetermined item and the goal was reset. During the B+C phase, which incorporated traditional tootling in conjunction with public posting, the teacher or primary researcher posted the tootles that were received on a designated bulletin board for the students to see who received tootles. The results indicated that increases in academically engaged behaviors were maintained in both B and B+C phases, whereas disruptive and passive off task behaviors decreased. The differences between phase B and B+C were minimal, if any, suggesting that traditional tootling alone is effective. Social validity measures were assessed for both teachers and students who found the intervention to be acceptable in terms of effectiveness and utility. This study suggests the benefits of implementing tootling in a high school setting, demonstrating increases in classwide academically engaged behaviors and decreases in classwide disruptive and passive off task behaviors.

Download

Share

COinS