Advantages And Disadvantages Of Competitive Learning

Competitive learning can enhance individual skills, provide knowledge review, provides new learning experience, and increased individual motivation. According to Akinbobola, “competitive learning is one which students’ work against each other to achieve a good grade. It exist when one students goal is achieved and all other students fail to reach the goal” (2009, p.3). A competitive learning structures can be appropriate if students have to be self-motivated and need to determine their own fate. In the research that I analyzed, compared to cooperative learning, competitive learning has more disadvantages than advantages. Competitive learning helps identify individual strengths and weakness of students. In this learning structure students need to be extremely familiar with the subject matter so that they are able to outwit their opponent’s knowledge level. According to Anderson, “These activities are characterized by using competition as a motivator to encourage student engagement in the learning processes they master content that has been transferred to …show more content…
In the social interdependence theory I described earlier, negative interdependence is utilized with competitive learning. The only way that a student may reach their goal of winning is by everyone else failing (Johnson, 2013, p. 3; Roseth et al., 2008, p. 225). A student doesn’t want anyone else to win or do well, in fact they may do things to increase the chances of others failing. Increased production in a competitive learning method may be a benefit but it is also a downfall in the method. According to Johnson, “individuals focus on being productive and on preventing any other person from being more productive than themselves” (Johnson, 2003, p.8). Supporting one another has always been important in school and in this structure students are to do just the