Effects of Peer-Mediated Accountability on Opportunities to Respond and Correct Skill Performance by Elementary School Children in Physical Education

We investigated the effects of group instruction, peer-dyads, and peer-mediated accountability on the number of trials performed and the number of correct trials during one-minute timed trials of volleyball skills. Peer-mediated accountability consisted of teacher goal setting, peer recording of performance, public posting of performance, and special content-related activities that served as public recognition of achievement. Twenty-four students in a Grade 4 physical education class participated. A reversal A-B-A-C design was used to assess the effects of each condition. Results indicated that students performed more trials and were more successful in the peer-mediated accountability condition than during either group instruction of peer dyads conditions. Findings are discussed in terms of the contingent relation between performance and consequences created by the peer-mediated accountability variable.