Competitive Classroom Research Articles

Dynamic Planes: A Classroom Competition as an Introduction to Leadership

Dynamic Planes: A Classroom Competition as an Introduction to Leadership

On the Role of Group Competition Mechanism in International Chinese Classroom

International Chinese language education is a field that has attracted much attention in recent years. Under the background of China's increasing international influence, more and more people realize the importance of learning Chinese. However, with the development of international Chinese education, we should also pay attention to the research of international Chinese education classroom strategy. Based on the observation of online open courses, with group competition mechanism as the theoretical basis, take the class “Whose bag is this” in the first grade of a primary school in the Philippines as an example, observed the classroom group competition mechanism, this paper mainly introduces the competition mechanism into the Chinese language teaching classroom advantages and disadvantages, and further put forward the principles and methods of classroom competition mechanism. The aim is to provide new teaching ideas for Chinese teachers and facilitate and improve their teaching efficiency and quality.

Classroom Competition, Student Effort, and Peer Effects

Classroom Competition, Student Effort, and Peer Effects

Feeling Like an Imposter: The Effect of Perceived Classroom Competition on the Daily Psychological Experiences of First-Generation College Students

Many college students intend to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers but quickly abandon these goals when confronted with notoriously competitive STEM courses that often pit students against each other. This emphasis on interpersonal competition could be especially detrimental for first-generation (FG) college students, an underrepresented group in STEM fields which more strongly values communality and collaboration relative to their continuing-generation peers. Thus, FG students may experience more imposter feelings in STEM courses perceived as having a competitive culture. A longitudinal study (with 818 students and 2,638 experience-sampling observations) found that perceived classroom competition was associated with greater daily in-class imposter feelings among all students—but especially among FG students. Imposter feelings in turn predicted students’ end-of-term course engagement, attendance, dropout intentions, and course grades. Classroom competition and the imposter feelings it engenders may be an overlooked barrier for promoting the engagement, performance, and retention of FG students in STEM.

Educational Effect of Participation in Robot Competition on Experience-Based Learning

In recent years, instructional robot materials have often been used in robotics and engineering education. We use LEGO Mindstorms which is an educational robot development kit in its curriculum. In this subject, students are taught basic subjects such as robot mechanisms, robotic control, and programming. To enhance the subject’s educational effects, the students are set the objective of entry into a robot competition. In the subject, the students are grouped into teams comprising two or three members to undertake the aforementioned task, with the objective of improving their communication skills and problem-solving capacities. The effects of participation in the robot competition were observed in the improved performances in the robot competition implemented in a class (hereinafter called “classroom competition”) held after the SMART competition. In the questionnaire survey conducted at the end of the subject, the upper-class students, in particular, conveyed favorable views on the use of LEGO Mindstorms and participation in the robot competition. On comparing the realized educational effects on the first- and third-year students, positive effects were confirmed in both groups.

Strategies for Network GWAS Evaluated Using Classroom Crowd Science.

Biological networks can substantially boost power to identify disease genes in genome-wide association studies. To explore different network GWAS methods, we challenged students of a UC San Diego graduate level bioinformatics course, Network Biology and Biomedicine, to explore and improve such algorithms during a four-week-long classroom competition. Here, we report the many creative solutions and share our experiences in conducting classroom crowd science as both a research and pedagogical tool.

From duels to classroom competition: Social competition and learning in educational videogames within different group sizes

Competition with other players or with the game itself is one of the basic elements of videogames, but the fine balance between increased mental effort and potential motivational benefits has to be addressed. A quantitative experiment was conducted to verify if social competition increases cognitive load, engagement, interest, and subsequently learning. The 115 students played an educational videogame, specifically designed for this experiment using Minecraft, in single, one-versus-one, small group, or classroom settings. The results show significantly higher cognitive load induced through social competition; lowered focused attention, instructional efficiency; and no higher situational interest. Additionally, increased learning in the solo condition could be observed. In contrast to these results, analysis of the actual perceived challenge resulted in positive correlations with engagement, situational interest, and retention knowledge. After the analysis, a detailed discussion of the impacts of social competition and various implications and future directions are provided. For example, it is argued that it is important to distinguish between the added gameplay mechanic of social competition and the perceived intrapersonal challenge this induces. Whereas the first might increase cognitive load due to the monitoring of additional game states, the latter might foster motivation and interest.

£80,000 Classroom Competition: Clearspace Buildings

£80,000 Classroom Competition: Clearspace Buildings

The role of fictive kinship relationships in mediating classroom competition and supporting reciprocal mentoring

Previous research has suggested that competitive classroom environments can play a role in perpetuating race and class inequalities. However, classroom competition can also promote learning, and eliminating it could do students a disservice. This paper draws on research literature and data from a qualitative study by Konstantinos Alexakos, Jayson K. Jones, and Victor H. Rodriguez on fictive kinship in order to explore the conditions under which classroom competition could benefit students from non-dominant groups. Based on their data, I argue that competition can support the learning of students from non-dominant groups, provided that it takes place in the context of strong emotional ties and successful interaction rituals. I also discuss the role of competition in facilitating reciprocal mentoring, as students seek knowledge and skills from each other in order to participate in solidarity-building classroom interactions. In addition, I show how their study challenges a perceived dichotomy between competition and cultural orientations towards communalism.

Student Perspectives Of Competition: A Qualitative Analysis

The present study involved action research of appraising business students individual assessments of a classroom competition exercise in which they participated for a university semester. Analysis of in-depth interviews held with each student show four over-arching themes shared by the participants. First, students showed significant self-insight into how they perceive themselves competing. This occurred on both the cognitive and affective domains. Second, with relative consistency, students reported avoiding competitive situations where they did not believe chances were good that they would win. Conversely, they tended to involve themselves in situations where success was perceived as possible or likely. Third, gender differences existed in how the students viewed competition. And fourth, we found that classroom competition affected how the students related to one another on personal levels.

What's a Mole for?

A classroom competition for guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar of candy is used to help students understand the premise of the mole concept: counting particles by weighing. Students calculate the number of jelly beans in the jar of candy by weighing them all and then dividing this weight by the average weight of a single jelly bean. Then, they extend this process to understand how the mole concept enables chemists to count particles by weighing.

Relation of perceived teacher support of student questioning to students' beliefs about teacher attributions for questioning and perceived classroom learning environment

Two studies examined students' perceptions of their teachers' support for classroom question asking in relation to: (a) their beliefs about teachers' attributions for student questioning, and (b) their perceptions of classroom goal orientations and incentive structure. In Study 1 ( n = 125), college students who perceived higher levels of support reported believing that their teachers attributed asking questions to higher motivation and less to lack of ability, and attributed not asking questions less to lack of motivation or low ability. An avoidance-avoidance conflict was suggested for students who perceived very low support. They believed their teachers attributed both asking and not asking questions to low motivation or low ability. Teachers' ( n = 80) self-rated support was related only to higher levels of attributed motivation for student question asking. Study 2 ( n = 1013) found evidence that perceived teacher support of questioning was related: (a) directly to perceived mastery goal orientation and inversely to perceived emphasis on performance goals (grades), and (b) directly to perceived independence and cooperative incentives and inversely to perceived classroom competition. Discussion included possible self-fulfilling prophecy effects of perceived teacher support of questioning.

Motivational Effects of Classroom Competition as a Function of Field Dependence

AbstractTenth grade students classified according to field dependence were administered reading comprehension tasks under the conditions of competition and noncompetition. A significant interaction between field dependence and competitive motivation was found: field dependent subjects increased their performance significantly when competing, while field independent subjects exhibited only a slight and nonsignificant change. Implications of this study for educational practice are discussed, and guidelines are suggested for the more effective application of competition in the classroom.

Science: The Art of Inquiry

get into the high-quality schools, may nevertheless find their way to academic fields; they may, in fact, by not having gone to a high-quality school, be better able to make a high-prestige career choice, given the relative caliber of their classroom competition. If, however, they are in fact less talented, they may well be relegated to the lower ranks of the high-status fields. This necessary accommodation to failure may, indeed, be an unnoticed contributor to the current levels of student discontent, especially on the high-quality campuses. For the narrowness of the ability spectrum in these schools insures that many young people of real ability will find themselves for the first time facing the harsh fact of personal and intellectual failure. This is not to overindividualize the origins of campus conflicts or to denigrate the reality of the political and social demands of activist students.