An Evaluation of Prompting to Teach Children to Ask for Help in a Virtual Classroom

Author

Katherine Griffith Brock, University of the PacificFollow

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Jessica S. Grady

First Committee Member

Marlesha Bell

Second Committee Member

Scott Jensen

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students have been forced to learn online. However, more information is needed about effective strategies for promoting active engagement in the online classroom, particularly the impact of peer modeling. This study investigated peer modeling and behavioral skills training to increase hand raising and question asking/answering behavior in six elementary school students. The study employed a multiple baseline across participants design, with data collected live during Zoom sessions by three research assistants, one acting as the teacher and two acting as peer models. Latency to speech was also coded subsequently to the live session as a shyness measure. Although minor improvements were observed in hand raising behavior in one participant and question answering in two participants, overall baseline engagement was higher than anticipated, which limited the magnitude of the observed improvements. High baseline engagement rates demonstrated that participants engaged actively in online classrooms without intervention. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of teacher prompting and peer modeling separately and target children that are not engaging on their own.

Pages

56

Recommended Citation

Brock, Katherine Griffith. (2023). An Evaluation of Prompting to Teach Children to Ask for Help in a Virtual Classroom. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/4182