Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Josh Herring
Faculty Mentor’s Department
College of Education-Curriculum and Instruction
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Over the past 50 years, extensive research has been conducted on the mechanistic and consequential roles of competition in the classroom. Much of this research is framed around the perspectives of educators, often in terms of the impacts of their grading methods and the presence or absence of team-based learning in their classrooms. However, dialogue about the potential benefits and drawbacks of competitive classrooms is not inclusive of student perspective, especially when considering the long-term academic and social impacts of competitive classroom environments. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how to best define competition for students enrolled in health science courses at the University of Montana, and to inform further study of the implications of competitive classrooms at liberal arts universities. Through a flier in the UM Health Sciences Building, I will recruit five students, preferably with diverse backgrounds, to participate in an hour long in-person interview. . The interview questions will probe the students’ perspective of competition within their university classes at large, with specific interest given toward the students’ typical classroom attitudes, their ideas about how competition generally presents itself in the classroom, and their interpretations as to what competition may provide them academically and socially. Following my analysis of the upcoming interview experiences, I will consider a narrative of what competition looks like for these students, what implications this crafted definition of competition may have, and how these insights may elicit further study into the history, nature, and outcomes of competitive classrooms.
Category
Humanities
The Integration of Student Understanding: Exploring Competition in the Classroom
UC South Ballroom
Over the past 50 years, extensive research has been conducted on the mechanistic and consequential roles of competition in the classroom. Much of this research is framed around the perspectives of educators, often in terms of the impacts of their grading methods and the presence or absence of team-based learning in their classrooms. However, dialogue about the potential benefits and drawbacks of competitive classrooms is not inclusive of student perspective, especially when considering the long-term academic and social impacts of competitive classroom environments. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how to best define competition for students enrolled in health science courses at the University of Montana, and to inform further study of the implications of competitive classrooms at liberal arts universities. Through a flier in the UM Health Sciences Building, I will recruit five students, preferably with diverse backgrounds, to participate in an hour long in-person interview. . The interview questions will probe the students’ perspective of competition within their university classes at large, with specific interest given toward the students’ typical classroom attitudes, their ideas about how competition generally presents itself in the classroom, and their interpretations as to what competition may provide them academically and socially. Following my analysis of the upcoming interview experiences, I will consider a narrative of what competition looks like for these students, what implications this crafted definition of competition may have, and how these insights may elicit further study into the history, nature, and outcomes of competitive classrooms.