Due to the prevalence of disruptive behavior in schools, educators are required to allocate time and resources to manage student behavior problems (Murphy, Theodore, Aloiso, Alric-Edwards, & Hughes, 2007). Disruptive behaviors take place in the classroom and other non-classroom settings, which can negatively impact the academic success of students. Specifically, noisemaking is a disruptive behavior that educators report as being one of the most concerning disruptive behaviors, thus, increasing the need for effective interventions to address disruptive behavior in non-classroom settings (Sun & Shek, 2012). The current study evaluates the effects of a decibel-level based interdependent group contingency, the Quiet Cafeteria Game (QCaG), on noise levels, appropriate lunchroom behavior, and disruptive lunchroom behavior. Results of the current study indicated that the QCaG effectively reduced noise levels in an elementary school cafeteria setting.
","abstract_html":"<p>Due to the prevalence of disruptive behavior in schools, educators are required to allocate time and resources to manage student behavior problems (Murphy, Theodore, Aloiso, Alric-Edwards, & Hughes, 2007). Disruptive behaviors take place in the classroom and other non-classroom settings, which can negatively impact the academic success of students. Specifically, noisemaking is a disruptive behavior that educators report as being one of the most concerning disruptive behaviors, thus, increasing the need for effective interventions to address disruptive behavior in non-classroom settings (Sun & Shek, 2012). The current study evaluates the effects of a decibel-level based interdependent group contingency, the Quiet Cafeteria Game (QCaG), on noise levels, appropriate lunchroom behavior, and disruptive lunchroom behavior. Results of the current study indicated that the QCaG effectively reduced noise levels in an elementary school cafeteria setting.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ware, Mary"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Evan H. Dart","Keith C. Radley","Lauren E. McKinley"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:12Z","subjects":["Group contingency","interdependent group contingency","behavior management","non-classroom settings","cafeteria","student behavior","decibel-levels"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/705","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Evan H. Dart","Keith C. Radley","Lauren E. McKinley"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ware, Mary"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-10-15T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Group contingency","interdependent group contingency","behavior management","non-classroom settings","cafeteria","student behavior","decibel-levels"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/705"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Due to the prevalence of disruptive behavior in schools, educators are required to allocate time and resources to manage student behavior problems (Murphy, Theodore, Aloiso, Alric-Edwards, & Hughes, 2007). Disruptive behaviors take place in the classroom and other non-classroom settings, which can negatively impact the academic success of students. Specifically, noisemaking is a disruptive behavior that educators report as being one of the most concerning disruptive behaviors, thus, increasing the need for effective interventions to address disruptive behavior in non-classroom settings (Sun & Shek, 2012). The current study evaluates the effects of a decibel-level based interdependent group contingency, the Quiet Cafeteria Game (QCaG), on noise levels, appropriate lunchroom behavior, and disruptive lunchroom behavior. Results of the current study indicated that the QCaG effectively reduced noise levels in an elementary school cafeteria setting.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Quiet Cafeteria Game"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Evan H. Dart","Keith C. Radley","Lauren E. McKinley"],"dc:creator":["Ware, Mary"],"dc:date.available":["2019-10-15T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Due to the prevalence of disruptive behavior in schools, educators are required to allocate time and resources to manage student behavior problems (Murphy, Theodore, Aloiso, Alric-Edwards, & Hughes, 2007). Disruptive behaviors take place in the classroom and other non-classroom settings, which can negatively impact the academic success of students. Specifically, noisemaking is a disruptive behavior that educators report as being one of the most concerning disruptive behaviors, thus, increasing the need for effective interventions to address disruptive behavior in non-classroom settings (Sun & Shek, 2012). The current study evaluates the effects of a decibel-level based interdependent group contingency, the Quiet Cafeteria Game (QCaG), on noise levels, appropriate lunchroom behavior, and disruptive lunchroom behavior. Results of the current study indicated that the QCaG effectively reduced noise levels in an elementary school cafeteria setting.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/705"],"dc:subject":["Group contingency","interdependent group contingency","behavior management","non-classroom settings","cafeteria","student behavior","decibel-levels"],"dc:title":["The Quiet Cafeteria Game"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:12Z"}