Multi-faceted Impact of a Team Game Tournament on the Ability of the Learners to Engage and Develop their Own Critical Skill Set

The purpose of the work presented in this paper is helping students to improve and accelerate their learning through a form of cooperative learning known as Team Game Tournament (TGT). The principle behind TGT is that the success of a team lies on the success of the individuals composing the team. TGT enhances learning via the establishment of a tournament where the class is divided into small academically balanced teams that play against each other. Facilitator's notes from visual monitoring, data from student questionnaire and exam results are collected for two structures-related modules of civil engineering stages 3 and 4 with and without TGT. Students show to be focused and participative, to develop their critical thinking and social skills and no less importantly, to enjoy the new learning format. These perceptions are confirmed by student feedback and a significant improvement in their performance at the exam. Student's learning is considerably strengthened by being held individually accountable for formulating and answering questions that contribute to the team score in a TGT style. Team mates help each other and study more than individually because they care for them and for the team.