The first time I saw a video like this, I found the idea incredibly creative and a great way to connect teachers and students. But does this type of strategy actually benefit students? Does it have an impact on learning?

In an effort to answer these questions, Cook and colleagues (2018) conducted a fantastic experiment to assess the effect of PGD on student engagement in teaching activities. To do this, they randomly assigned 10 classes of students, with half of them starting class in the traditional way and the other half with PGD. After the start of the class, the authors recorded the time students spent following instructions, paying attention to the teacher, or actively participating in classroom activities such as writing, reading, and so on.

In the experiment, before implementing PGD, the percentage of time engaged in activities was 59%. After teachers started using PGD, the time engaged in classroom activities increased to 80%. 

To strengthen the results, the authors also collected data from classes that did not undergo the intervention (control group), resulting in percentages of 55% and 59%, respectively. In this way, PGD has proven to be an intriguing strategy not only to foster a connection between teachers and students but also to actively engage students in the learning process.

Reference:
Cook, C.R., Fiat, A., Larson, M., Daikos, C., Slemrod, T., Holland, E.A., Thayer, A.J., & Renshaw, T. (2018). Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation of a Low-cost, High-Yield Proactive Classroom Management Strategy. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 1-11. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300717753831