What created the interest:
My inquiry question of “In what ways can competition be used effectively so that all participates are motivated to succeed?” was of interest to me because of the discussions that have arisen in my classes. Coming from a business background competition is a strong motivator for the people in my field. Even losing is a motivator to then win or succeed. Yet in many of the classes I attend people refer to competition as a deterrent in the classroom an anti-motivator if you will. It seems that many other students say that bringing in competition into the class demotivates as many people as it motivates. It is also suggested that the students that are motivated by competition are the students that don’t require motivation. These comments are certainly not supported or agreed upon by those in my cohort so I thought that this might be a great topic to research and really try to find out a more definitive answer.
The impact to answering this question could have a huge influence on my teaching. Not only could, I be impacted by this, but teachers as a whole could be impacted by research done on this question. If we can find a way to incorporate competition as a motivator for all students then we can in fact find a way to motivate ever individual in the classroom. We would be, for all intensive purposes, creating a universal key in getting students to participate in class and more importantly in their own learning.
Where I’m coming from:
Coming from a strong Business background as well as a fairly athletic background. Competition is nothing new. It is in fact been a strong influence in my life. It has been significant in my career in getting jobs, performing jobs and helping others perform at their jobs. It has been essential as an athlete. Now I am no professional athlete by any stretch of the imagination. However; I have played competitive sports in many areas such as Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball, Ultimate and Soccer. I have played in Provincial competitions and many city finals. The one thing that all these sports have in common is competition. Competition for the most part is the main motivator in these sports it is what propels teams to win.
As a soccer coach I have coached Boys, Girls, men’s and women’s teams. I have coached “fun” lower level teams as well as higher level teams. At times coaching upwards of 3 teams during a season. In each situation its competition that helps me motivate and guide players. Even on “fun” teams where the focus is on learning and development and enjoyment, we still use competition to motivate. When enjoying yourself and learning and developing as a player is your number one priority, I have found that winning (or competition) is still a strong factor. I often tell my lower end teams that we are here for fun first but we don’t lose sight of the fact that winning is fun, its just not the only fun thing. I think that from an athletic perspective this makes competition and winning a strong motivator without it being any sort of deterrent when your unsuccessful. The competition motivates but improving and learning is an even bigger reward. Winning would just add to the fun or satisfaction.
Now how do we turn the “winning isn’t the only fun thing” attitude as a positive into a positive in the classroom? I’m hoping that by answering my inquiry question I can get at the heart of this issue, along with other things like making a competitive environment while NOT producing “losers”. These are all hard things to do, especially in a classroom.
What “Educators” use to think:
It seems that only decades ago most educational institutions seemed to think that Competition was good for students. That competition was part of human nature. So we encouraged it with things like: spelling bee’s, debate teams, chess tournaments, and science fairs. We created honor roles for those that excelled and Valedictorian for the very best of the best. It would seem that as an education society we valued competition and felt it was vital in educating and preparing our youth for the real world.