The research seems to break classrooms up into 3 groups when looking at this topic:
“A competitive goal structure is one in which learners perceive that they will be rewarded based on comparisons with other learners. One person can win in a competition only if another loses.”
“An individualistic goal structure is one in which learners perceive themselves as working for their own rewards. In this environment, students need not be concerned about what anyone else is accomplishing”
“A cooperative goal structure is one in which learners perceive that they are working together with other students to gain rewards. In this environment, a student’s success depends on the comparable success of other students” (Laurel Shaper Walters, 2000)
Although each of these structures have advantages and disadvantages. It seems that most of the researchers seem to believe that Cooperative is the way to go. That Competition is the way to avoid. It seems that we are shifted well over to classrooms that try to discourage competition. Its about creating safe, and healthy learning environments. “competition is to self-esteem as sugar is to teeth” (Kohn 2003) when educators are thinking like this its impossible to conclude that competition is healthy. Where as a cooperative environment has a much more positive spin on things, “Effective cooperative learning has two major components: positive interdependence and individual responsibility. That is, the members of the group must depend on one another to extent that each member has responsibilities, each wants the others to succeed, and no one feels that his own success or failure will hurt the others in the group. (Laurel Shaper Walters, 2000)
It seems that as I waded through the research I got more and more into how Competition classrooms are bad and Cooperative classrooms are good.
“defined competition according to four main types:
- Hypercompetitiveness, the need to win at all costs that is expressed by hostility and disregard for the opponent
- Non-hostile social comparisons, the comparison of achievements without hostility, aggression or jealousy
- Enjoyment of competition, which gauges the amount of positive affect toward the experience of competition
- Avoidance of competition”
(Schneider, B. H., Woodburn, S., del Pilar Soteras del Toro, M., & Udvari, S. J. (2005))
It was this quote that started me thinking, perhaps we need to stop teaching Hyper-competitiveness but rather focus on Non-hostile social comparisons as well as Enjoyment of competition.
So I continued to research and started to find research bridging the gap between the advantages in competition and the productivity in learning you get from a cooperative classroom.
It allowed me to come up with some strategies on how to implement Competition in the classroom without making it a de-motivator that everyone worries it is.