Two groups for relay
I find students like to compete, with using two lines of students and a timer, I'm sure they will be ready to test their knowledge. Is this wrong to have students compete?
Wholesome competition is a great motivator of adult learners. I use it every chance I can and would suggest you do the same, Jacqueline!
Hi Jacqueline! I also agree that the relay race is a great motivator for adult learners. And yes, it does encourage competition, but hopefully friendly competition. I do not think that it is wrong to have the students compete. Competition can improve motivation in the course and in the end improve grades and learning. I use the relay race in my courses and it really gets the students going and thinking! It really test their knowledge and I find that when my students know that a relay race is coming, they study the content harder. I end up with better test and quiz grades!
Our classes tend to be relatively large, 20 or so students. I find that if I don't divide them into teams, and do individual activities instead, a number of the students just end up wandering around. The competition seems to engage them better.
I feel that competition will help to get the students acting as a team. It helps to have them have to rely on each other for help and support. It can really assist in forming bonds in the classroom between people who may never have met otherwise.
Those bonds mimic what they will face when dealing with real patients and families on the job.
I think competition is an absolute healthy way to learn as long as it is approached correctly. Obviously in this competition you don't want to have "losers" or allow any negative behavior from students on a winning team. I often play a game we named word racer where I have students go to the whiteboard and the objective is to write out the answer faster than the other person. They compete against each other and by doing this we are reviewing our chapter... but there is no "winning team". I make sure to inform my classes that in doing any activities I expect them to be good sports and there will never be a losing team, only two (or more) teams that are playing to learn!
Yes, when everyone learns everyone wins!
I like to divide the students and have them think of words for the other team to define. I find that it helps them understand the terms that they find more difficult than other terms. Sometimes terms that I think they would find difficult, are easier for them, and the reverse is also true.
This is a great way to get buy in and ownership of the content for students, since they are the ones driving the activity. Thanks for sharing Alexandra!
I also think that competition creates a focus/clear goal for the students to take the information to another level in a fun way. And if students are having fun they are more likely to remember the information and share it with other students creating an environment in which they further their learning by teaching it to others without realizing it.
Teaching it to others without them realizing it is the secret of how to create memory in adults raised on entertainment and the media. I wish I was a student in your class!
I tried competition once but making out the teams was difficult. We actually used it for a final...we did jeopardy but were in a quandry as to whether we put teams together based on mixed "skill', boys vs girls (which can't happen in threes...friends, let them pick it...pick out of a hat? What was fair. In the end I let them pick and while team C felt a bit at a disadvantage..as you know, jeopardy can be won by just plain...shutting up once in a while..Team C did quite well staying out of the battle between A and B...
I have found a few things to be helpful when using Jeopardy:
1. I put people on teams randomly by picking from a hat.
2. Each team picks a "buzzer person, someone who can only buzz in, not answer any questions themselves. The others on the team must answer if they buzz in first.
3. I use a device called an "eggspert" which is a buzzer system that shows you and everyone else who is the first to buzz in.
4. I reward points for the correct answers, but I never take away points for wrong answers, so this encourages everyone to at least try to answer questions.
5. No one can buzz in until I have read the question in its entirety. If they buzz in early, their team is not eligible to answer that question.
Hope this helps!
I think competetion that encourages a quick but accurate response is great. Why limit it to two groups?
TIMOTHY, you can have as many groups as you feel appropriate to compete.
Michele Deck
