2021 Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 177-186
Study objective: The present study examined effects of independent group-oriented contingencies on the speed of students’s preparations for making school lunches in a regular classroom at an elementary school. Design: A baseline phase and intervention phases I and II. Setting: The period of school lunch preparations in a first-grade regular classroom at a public elementary school. Participants: 38 first-grade students. Intervention: An independent group-oriented contingency intervention was conducted for the whole class. A visual timer was set for 4 min. If the participants on school lunch duty lined up in the corridor within 4 min, they got a sticker and verbal praise. Measures: The time it took the participants on school lunch duty to get out of the classroom at the end of the 4th period, line up in the corridor, and get ready to leave for the school kitchen, and the number of participants who were not ready to leave for the school kitchen. Results: After the intervention, the participants on school lunch duty used less time preparing to leave for the school kitchen and the number of those who were not ready to leave on time decreased. Conclusion: The use of a visual timer and an independent group-oriented contingency intervention resulted in many students routinely getting ready to prepare lunches more quickly than before. The results from a questionnaire given to the participants and their homeroom teacher suggested that the intervention was socially valid.
