An argument can be made on either side of the inter-team competition question: there are studies supporting either side. I looked into this a while back and have a handful of article PDFs I can send you, if you like. (I didn't want to drown everyone's in-box with them, so let me know and I'd be happy to send them to you!) -M ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tammy Tobin-Janzen" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 9:08 AM Subject: Re: posting team grades > Hi folks, > > I started using TBL in my genetics class this fall, and had wonderful > team rapport for the first time EVER. Yey! However, I have avoided > public posting of team scores for many of the reasons already stated > in this topic thread. I've also read (or I think I've read) that > such competition can be particularly disconcerting/disadvantaging to > women and some members of groups that are traditionally > underrepresented in biology. Can anyone provide more insight into > studies that assess the impact of competition in the classroom on > specific groups of students? > > As a compromise, I've posted the class's individual RAT average > compared to the class's team RAT average (often quite a bit higher). > The students already know that they are doing better individually as > a result of the group work, but I think it causes even more buy-in > when they can see that the phenomenon is class-wide. As I said, the > team cohesion in this class was quite remarkable, so I don't think we > missed much by not fostering inter-team competition - but perhaps it > was an unusual class. > > Tammy Tobin-Janzen > Susquehanna University > > > On Feb 6, 2006, at 10:44 PM, Francine Glazer wrote: > >> I just had a student voice a similar concern tonight. She was >> uncomfortable with her team's score being up on the board (her team >> had >> not done as well as the others, and she did acknowledge that was >> part of >> her discomfort), and especially didn't like the feelings of >> competition >> it created in the room. >> >> I explained to her that I am trying to foster inter-team >> competition to >> help the teams pull together, and said I'd think over her concerns. >> >> I'm thinking that I can perhaps post the team scores on the board >> without team names - that way each team has more privacy re: no one >> else >> knowing which score is theirs, but each team gets to see how they did >> relative to their peers. Have any of you tried something like >> this? Do >> you think it will have the same effect on team cohesion as would >> posting >> the scores with the grades? >> >> thanks, >> Fran >> >> >> Rosemary Thackeray wrote: >>> Has anyone responded to a student comment regarding the posting of >>> team >>> RA scores on the chalkboard is a violation of FERPA laws? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Rosemary Thackeray >>> >>> Brigham Young University >>> >> >> -- >> Francine S. Glazer, Ph.D. >> Professor, Biological Sciences >> Kean University >> Union NJ 07083 >> >> Ph: 908-737-3661 >> Fx: 908-737-3666 >> http://www.kean.edu/~fglazer