Quest for the Golden Rule: An effective social skills promotion and bullying prevention program

Abstract

Everyday many students face bullying situations that they are ill equipped to manage. E-learning has recently emerged as a potentially effective tool in teaching children social skills, in addition to academic subject matter. Quest for the Golden Rule is one of the first bullying prevention e-learning programs available, designed by the Practi-Quest Corporation, for children in grades 2 – 5. The purpose of the current study was to explore data collected as part of standard program quality assurance practices to evaluate the impact of the gaming modules on how much children learned through interacting with the modules. Sample sizes ranged from 226 to 438 depending on the module; with approximately equal numbers of boys and girls. Following their interactions with each module, children’s knowledge of bullying and their identification of strategies to prevent bullying improved significantly. The majority of children reported that they enjoyed the game and felt confident that they could help solve bullying problems. Quest for the Golden Rule is an engaging, effective, and efficient means of raising awareness, fostering positive attitudes, and promoting effective problem-solving for bullying prevention in schools.

Introduction

Everyday many students face bullying situations that they are often ill equipped to manage. Bullying has repercussions, not only for children’s social and emotional well-being (e.g., Arseneault et al., 2006), but also for academic achievement and school absenteeism (e.g., Kshirsagar et al., 2007, Nansel et al., 2004, Ybarra and Mitchell, 2004). Adults must support children in managing these situations, as they often require skills exceeding children’s developmental capacities.

Teachers and caregivers alike are charged with the responsibility of educating children in both academic and social domains. Although Canadian children are performing well on the international stage in terms of academics, ranking 3rd, 4th, and 7th out of 57 countries on science, reading, and mathematics, respectively (Bussiere, Knighton, & Pennock, 2007), the same is not true in terms of children’s social experiences at school. Based on responses to the World Health Organization–Health Behaviors in School Aged Children survey, Canadian girls ranked 26th and boys ranked 21st out of 40 countries on measures of bullying and victimization, respectively (Craig et al., 2009). Given the discrepancy between students’ academic and social experiences it is clear that we must focus on further supporting children’s social development at school.

There are several ways in which adults can support children individually and in the context of their peer groups. According to Pepler (2006), adults can provide support to individual children through scaffolding or coaching, which children require to achieve skills beyond their developmental level. Scaffolding is a critical element of bullying prevention initiatives for children who bully, children who are victimized, and children who witness bullying (Pepler, 2006). Scaffolding can be provided in innovative and engaging ways through educational gaming. The current study provides a preliminary evaluation of a pioneering suite of web-based bullying prevention games, called Quest for the Golden Rule: Bullying Prevention Software. These games are designed to engage children in bullying prevention exercises through computer-based gaming modules, and are based on the principle of scaffolding through the provision of tailored and progressive support for each student.

Although many students experience bullying and can benefit from education and support in addressing these challenging social dynamics, there is a small group of children (10%) who reports consistently high levels of bullying over time and who require more intensive support including practice and coaching to learn essential social skills (Pepler, Jiang, Craig, & Connolly, 2008). Because public schools tend to be under-resourced, it is often beyond the capacity of classroom teachers to provide the intensive and unique learning opportunities that some students require. Quest for the Golden Rule may provide an alternative means to provide intensive support to students in school through individualized experiences, an opportunity not typically provided through traditional approaches to bullying prevention.

Early prevention and intervention for bullying problems are crucial to support children in developing healthy academic, social, and emotional coping skills (e.g., Mitchell, Ybarra, & Finkelhor, 2007). In a comprehensive review of thirty stringent studies of bullying prevention programs, Ttofi and Farrington, (2009) demonstrated the effectiveness in reducing bullying and victimization by an average of 20–23%. There is modest evidence to support the effectiveness of bullying prevention programs for elementary school students (e.g., Craig et al., 2004, Smokowski and Kopasz, 2005); however, in their meta-analysis, Ttofi and Farrington, (2009) found that programs for children older than eleven were more effective. Because of the importance of prevention and early intervention, it is essential to increase the effectiveness of bullying programs for young children to support them before early adolescence, which is a developmental period of increased risk for bullying (Pellegrini and Bartini, 2001, Pepler et al., 2008).

Quest for the Golden Rule was designed to incorporate many of the effective characteristics of established bullying prevention programs (as recommended by Ttofi & Farrington, 2009). In addition to the primary elements, Quest for the Golden Rule provides an enhanced learning experience through the use of interactive gaming technology, which is individualized, accessible, and attractive for younger children. Few computer-based bullying prevention programs have been developed for students in elementary school. An objective of the current study was to provide preliminary data regarding the effectiveness of interactive bullying prevention software designed to increase knowledge and change attitudes.