Evidence Informed Practice
Recently I became the incarnation of Harvey Dent, determining the rewards for students by the simple toss of a coin. Despite Two Face’s actions (in response to gambling people's lives or situations on the toss of a coin) often leading to disaster and destruction. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the opposite impact; students became more eager than ever to answer questions or offer their opinion in class. All it took was a slight tweak in how I applied the school reward system: if I thought a student warranted a house point he/she was offered the house point but with the opportunity to gamble. This strategy had three areas of unpredictability:
- How the House Points were awarded - I awarded a point based on student performance against the IB learner profile traits when I deemed fit
- The opportunity to gamble - toss of a coin
- The gamble randomly alternated between double or nothing, triple or nothing, and quadruple or nothing
I employed this strategy in the penultimate and final weeks (weeks 6 and 7) before the winter break. Whilst I would usually expect a slight decrease in student motivation during these weeks, the opposite became apparent. Student motivation appeared to increase. When I asked the class questions, I was often faced with over eagerness shouts of “me, me me Mr Mark me!”. And when offering one student the opportunity to gamble, she responded with: “This is why I love English”. Furthermore, a small group of boys who have only been learning English for 18 months threw off the shackles of worrying about making mistakes and became proactive in discussions, group work, and question and answer sessions because they hoped they would have the opportunity to gamble a house point should they be awarded one.
I think it is worth pointing out that our reward system is based on a collective approach. There is no individual gain from being awarded a house point. All students are assigned to one of four houses. And, in an effort to reinforce our host culture – our house system is named after four of the Norse Gods: Tyr, Heimdall, Buri & Skadi. House points are distributed each week by teachers if they perceive students to be demonstrating any of the IB learner Profile traits: risk-taker; caring; communicator; knowledgeable; principled; balanced; inquirer; open-minded; reflective; thinker. These points are collated each week and posted on the house competition noticeboard. As there is no personal gain from gambling a house point, it would appear that student motivation increased due to the hope of having an opportunity to gamble.
I also think it is worth pointing out that this approach is an attempt at evidence-informed practice, based on neuroscientific research conducted by Dr Paul Howard Jones. His research looks at the amount of dopamine generated in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. His research suggests that the dopamine response in this part of the brain orientates our attention, and creates synaptic plasticity which is an indicator that learning has occurred. The more the nucleus accumbens (in response to dopamine) is activated, the more you are likely to remember. The nucleus accumbens is activated when the possibility of a reward is uncertain, rather than when there is consistency and predictability in the reward process. Therefore, rewards do not predict learning, whereas the brain's response to rewards does. And the brain responds to those rewards that are unpredictable; when there is a chance of no reward.
The Final Word: Two sides of the same coin
Whilst it helps that being a 'risk- taker' is one of the ten IB learner profile traits when implementing this strategy, I am conscious that during the two week implementation process not one student commented on the need to be 'principled', another of the IB learner profile traits. The idea of using the concept of gambling as a way to stimulate learning sits a little uneasy with this teacher. You see, just like Two Face or a coin, this strategy has two sides.
The Students’ Final Word:
When I offered a student the chance to gamble by the toss of a coin I stated the following:
“You have a 50/50 chance of winning!”
In response to this comment a host of hands shot up. One student then advised me that I had made an incorrect statement - That it is in fact 51/49 in favour of the side facing up when the coin is tossed:
For further information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFjoF-YO20
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