Effects of a tangible goal on students' perceptions and off-task behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a tangible goal on students' on-task behavior and the perception of their classroom climate. The tangible goal examined in this study was an audio CD. Also examined were the interactions of grade, group, gender, and time of test. The My Class Inventory was used to measure students' perceptions of their learning environment. Two hundred and fifty-one students from twelve intact classes in two elementary and two middle schools of three school districts were chosen for the study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups for a four-week experiment. The study utilized a pretest/posttest two group quasi-experimental design to answer six research questions. Four-way ANOVAs with repeated measures were conducted to measure mean differences and interactions. Group and time of test were the principal variables of this study. Results of the study found significant differences between experimental and comparison groups of off-task behavior scores.