Knowledge competition: an entertaining and useful way to review concepts that would enable students to develop other underlying skills

Abstract

Traditional examinations are demotivating for most students and difficult to implement in practical lessons (mainly based on skills). Therefore, innovative assessment methods where students play a major role in making the choice of it can motivate students better than traditional methodologies. Based on Teams-Games- Tournament (TGT) technique developed by DeVries and Edwards (1973) and DeVries and Slavin (1978), this paper presents a cooperative learning technique to assess a course, as an alternative to traditional assessment methods. Students are actively involved in the decision-making process to choose the continuous assessment criteria. It fosters group cooperation to achieve common goals as well as healthy competition among teams. The purpose is to promote knowledge and transfer of learning among groups, develop cross-curricular skills, motivate and encourage students. Several techniques proposed by students were implemented in different courses. Most of them were successful and highly valued by students, who think it is a stimulating way to test knowledge, creates a positive atmosphere, fosters class participation, has a positive effect in the students' mood, and makes lessons more interactive as well as interesting, among many other advantages. As a result, students strongly recommend implementing this learning technique in other courses.