Sunday, October 6, 2013

Introduction to a Reward: Competition vs. Cooperation

I just re-watched Tom Shadyac's documentary I Am. I remember introducing a reward to my last grade one class of the day yesterday, Friday before Fall break. I bribed.
"I will give a reward to anyone who can make at least three different sized circles." 
 We were using TurtleArt and we had done some hand motions to determine the difference between 180° and 360°, and we had modeled the abstract concept of large and small radii. At the end of the 40 minutes about eight kids out of about twenty had their names on the board under reward. I recall one child, a bit unsure, claiming she just couldn't do it. This child often catches my attention. She is determined and whines out loud wanting me close by, but not in an annoying way because she doesn't give up. She was the first to figure it out. Then she coached her neighbor and his name went up on the reward list too. A child mid-way across the room complained that so and so next to him was copying his work. For a brief second I saw what was at play. It had never crossed her mind. I reminded that coaching isn't cheating so long as the coach doesn't touch the other person's computer. His neighbor's name was soon on the reward board too. As for the others, they were investigating plenty of other things of course.

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