Situated near the HCC SouthShore campus is RCMA Wimauma Academy

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Situated near the HCC SouthShore campus is RCMA Wimauma Academy, an elementary school that made the news when students won first place in the national online US Matific Math Games, as reported by ABC News (March 2018).  Let’s look a little more closely at competition and education in middle and late childhood (Chapter 5, pages 164-214).

Instructions and Prompt

View the video above, Wimauma Elementary School Takes First Place in Math Competition. You must view the video in its entirety (1:00) in order to complete the discussion. After reviewing the video and Chapter 5 in the textbook (Links to an external site.), please answer the following questions:

1. First paragraph prompt: Using information from the video and thinking about academic competition among children, describe what you see as possible advantages AND disadvantages of academic competition. Be specific and draw upon examples that you view from the video.
2. Second paragraph prompt: Let’s expand the prompt and views about competitions. You don’t have to answer all of these questions, but use these questions in sharing your views in the second paragraph:  What is the appropriate age for competition? Does it matter if the competition is athletic or academic? Should boys and girls compete against each other? What can be gained and/or lost through competition? What role, if any, should parents play? Is recognizing a number one, or winner, in a competitive situation better or worse than presenting everyone who participates with an award/trophy?
3. Reply to at least two of your peers’ posts.  Each reply should be thoughtful. A thoughtful reply means good use of examples, clear explanations, elaborated on the answer, and/or utilized relevant module/text resources.