Class Behaviour Game

This simple game is inspired by an American game which was part of something developed for primary and secondary schools in Baltimore Public Schools in the early 1990s – the Classroom Prevention Program. The game ‘Make the Invisible Visible’ is inspired by this program too.

The Baltimore program has been thoroughly tested scientifically. Students were followed to 19 years of age. It was found that those sticking til the program managed significantly better  in education and had significantly less risk of abuse. The results can be read here. The manual from Baltimore ca be seen here.

The purpose of the game is to contribute to a good living and learning environment for both students and adults. Here are the rules:

Define (preferably together with the students) a specific behavioural goal to be achieved by the game. It may for instance be: less noise, proper language, less violence, more helpfulness, inclusion of everyone when playing or socialising and so on.

Decide upon a time frame for the game. It can be anything from 10 minutes up to days, even weeks.
Divide the class into 3-5 groups (depending on class size). The teacher decides who should be in which group, ensuring that the groups roughly possess equal chances to succeed in the game. Each group recieves a number of points to start with (between 5 and 10).

When students demonstrate desired behavior in sufficient quantity within a given time, they are rewarded additional points. When students demonstrate contrary behavior, points are removed from the group. The teacher determines whether students themselves should be part of judging their own behavior (and thus reward or remove points) or whether it is an adult decision (depends on the theme and students’ maturity).

When the game is finished, the student group with most points is given an appropriate reward (tangible or intangible) that has been agreed upon in advance.

The game should be repeated at regular intervals, perhaps with new behavioral themes, new groups and gradually increasing demands.