APCoRE

ASIA-PACIFIC CONSORTIUM OF RESEARCHERS AND EDUCATORS

Utilizing Competition-based Learning

(CnBL) Method in a Biology Class Setting
Parro, Maria Fatima L.
College of Graduate Studies and Teacher Education Research, Philippine Normal University,
104, Taft Ave, Ermita, Manila, 1000 Metro Manila, Philippines.

Basic Education- Senior High School Department, University of the East, 2219 CM Recto
Avenue, Manila City, 1008 Metro Manila, Philippines.

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COMPETITION

2
 “Filipinos love to
compete in different
competitions whether
local or international.”

Your Date Here Your Footer Here 3

Why not focus on bringing
competition inside the
classroom?

Your Date Here Your Footer Here 4

 APCoRE
ASIA-PACIFIC CONSORTIUM OF RESEARCHERS AND EDUCATORS

Utilizing Competition-based Learning

(CnBL) Method in a Biology Class Setting
Parro, Maria Fatima L.
College of Graduate Studies and Teacher Education Research, Philippine Normal University,
104, Taft Ave, Ermita, Manila, 1000 Metro Manila, Philippines.

Basic Education- Senior High School Department, University of the East, 2219 CM Recto
Avenue, Manila City, 1008 Metro Manila, Philippines.

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Key Concepts
• Competition
• Gamification of Learning
• Motivation
• Academic Achievement
• Competition-based Learning

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Introduction
• Competition-based Learning (CnBL) has
been supported by various studies into
having positive effects in student’s
motivation (Williams & Clippinger, 2002;
Greene, et al., 2004; Tüzün, et al., 2009;
Burguillo, 2010; Boyle et al., 2015; Chen &
Law, 2016).

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 Introduction
• Cagiltay & Ozcelik (2015) examined whether a game-
based learning (GBL) environment that allowed players
to see each other’s scores, ranking and nicknames was
able to influence their academic performance and
motivation as compared to those who were not able to
access their scores, ranking and nicknames. They found
that competition in games was able to enhance
learning and motivation.

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Introduction

• Vandercruysse, et al. (2013) presented that

competition had no significant effect on the
learning outcomes and motivation of the students
because this game- based environment deeply relied
on competition against a virtual opponent rather than
against human opponents.

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Introduction

• Competing with other students, rather than a

virtual opponent could be a factor affecting the
students’ motivation, accuracy and learning in games
(Williams & Clippinger, 2002; Tüzün, et al., 2009;
Burguillo, 2010; Boyle et al., 2015; Chen & Law,
2016).

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Introduction
• There were only few CnBL researches which were
conducted in Asian countries (Burguillo, 2010;
Chen, et al., 2017). The preference to direct
instruction in eastern schools is very high and
students are more accustomed to being taught rather
than constructing and being strategic in the teaching
and learning process.

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 Introduction
• According to the study of Ku, et al., (2004)
students focus mostly on their grades in norm-
referenced tests, which tend to measure their
performance relatively to each other, and thus
competition is often very intense among
peers.

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Research Objectives
This research aims to identify the following:
1-The effect of Competition- based learning (CnBL)
in enhancing students’ academic achievement (SAA)
in learning about the concept of cellular structures
and its functions.

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Research Objectives
This research aims to identify the following:

2- The significant difference between the pre-test and

the post-test scores among students after utilizing the
CnBL method.

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Research Objectives
This research aims to identify the following:
3- The Students’ Motivation (SM) level per facet
after utilizing the CnBL method.
4- The significant relationship between the SAA and
SM in learning Biology concepts after utilizing the
CnBL method.
5- The students’ perceptions (SP) in CnBL?

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Framework
SAA

CnBL SM

SP
Figure 1. The Competition- Based Learning (CnBL) method was utilized as the
intervention in the study. It intends to enhance students’ academic achievement (SAA)
as well as promote students’ motivation (SM) in learning Biology concepts. Also,
students’ perceptions (SP) were acquired in the study

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Methodology

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 1 Selection of Participants

• A total of 42 Grade 12 students who

were part of the STEM program were
selected from the Technological
University of the Philippines, Manila
through multistage probability
sampling technique.

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 2 Administration of Pre-test
• A pre- test was administered to test
the knowledge of the participants
prior to the group competition. The
test includes important concepts in
Biology specifically the structure and
function of cells.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention

• The competition- based learning

(CnBL) technique was used as an
intervention. The twelfth-grade
students from TUP-Manila were
asked to group themselves into seven.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention

• Each group was given a concrete

model or a picture of a eukaryotic
cell and papers consisting of words
that were used to label the cell. The
teacher explained further to the group
of students the competition
mechanics.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention
• The said competition
consisted of three parts. On
the first part of the game,
each group of students were
asked to identify the three
main parts of the cell and
paste it on the cell diagram.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention
• On the second part of the
game, the group of
students were asked to
identify the organelles of
the cell and paste it on
the cell diagram.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention
• The last part of the
competition was
centered on
allowing the
students to paste on
the cell diagram
the functions of
each part of the
organelle.

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 3 Execution of Plan Intervention
• At the end of each round of the
competition, the scores were
obtained based on the number
of correct answers which were
pasted on the cell diagram of
each group. The winner was
announced after tallying the
score.

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 4 Administration and Analysis of the
Post- test
• After the intervention process,
the post-test was administered
to the students in the form of
the MC 2 tier test to gauge if
the CnBL technique enabled
the students perform better in
Biology. The SAA results were
analyzed and interpreted using
t-test.

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 5 Administration and Analysis of the
BMQ
• To identify how motivated students were towards
learning Biology concepts, students were given the
BMQ. The BMQ covers a set of questions. The
students were asked to check the boxes which
corresponds to their answers. The Likert-type
questionnaire consisted of numerical values which
designated a specific response- 4, always done, 3,
often done, 2, sometimes, and 1, never. Pearson r
correlation was utilized to test the significant
relationship that existed between SAA and SM.

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 6 Interpretation of Results
• The SP through the reflective
journal was interpreted
thematically and presented
based from the actual responses
of the students.

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Results and Discussion
1. What is the effect of CnBL in enhancing students’ academic achievement (SAA) in
learning about the concept of cellular structures and its functions?

Figure 4. Comparison between Pre-test and Post-test scores.

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Results and Discussion
2. Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and the post test
scores among students after utilizing the CnBL method?

The data presented in Table shows that Standard Sig

Mean t df
there is a significant difference between the Deviation (2 tailed)
pre-test and post-test scores. The mean score of Pair 1 VAR00001 8.1750 3.47804
the pre-test is 8.18 while the mean score of VAR00002 11.0250 2.57689
post-test is 11.03. On average, scores improved VAR00001-VAR00002 -2.85000 2.11890 -8.507 39 0.000
by 2.85 after the intervention. Competition Remarks: Extremely Significant
Based Learning has a positive effect on the
SAA, t(39) =-8.507, p= “0.000”. Table 1.T Test (Paired means) Comparison of Pre-test and Post Test

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Results and Discussion
3. What is the Students’ Motivation (SM) level per facet after utilizing the
CnBL method?
In Figure 5, it shows student’s Level
of Motivation per facet. Question
number four, which asks if “Getting
a good biology grade is important to

Facets
me” has the highest frequency (16)
of Always and a highest mean score
of 3.275. Hence, question number
18 which states that “I believe I can
get a perfect score in my biology
test” has the highest frequency (10)
of Never with a lowest facet mean
score of 2.275. Figure 5.Student’s Level of Motivation per facet

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Results and Discussion
4. Is there a significant relationship between the SAA and SM in learning Biology
concepts after utilizing the CnBL method?

Table 2 shows that there is a

low rectilinear relationship
(R=0.17) between Post Test Score
(Achievement) and motivation as R value Remarks
specified in Biology Motivation a.       Post test Score Low Rectilinear
Questionnaire (BMQ). It suggests 0.17
b.      Biology Motivation Correlation
that students’ motivation has an
indirect association with their test Table 2. Pearson R Correlation of Motivation and
Academic Achievement
results.

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Results and Discussion
5. What are the students’ perceptions (SP) in Competition Based Learning (CnBL)?

Based on the things written on the students’ reflective journal, the

following SPs were identified:
 
 Learning through competition is fun. As quoted from student 15,
“I felt like everyone was really anxious about their scores and
become uncomfortable with it. Although I saw everyone’s
enthusiasm to learn because of all the competition, I still
managed to see that it is fun!”
 

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Results and Discussion
5. What are the students’ perceptions (SP) in Competition Based Learning (CnBL)?

 Competition- based Learning (CnBL) is an effective strategy in

reviewing basic concepts that are needed to understand new topics.
Since the respondents are STEM students, topics are in spiral
progression, which makes CnBL an efficient strategy. According to
student 9 “Some of it are new to me but overall, I already know
the topic. Because of this activity, I was able to be refreshed with
everything about the functions of organelles.”  

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Results and Discussion
5. What are the students’ perceptions (SP) in Competition Based Learning (CnBL)?

Most students share the same positive response. Student 14 stated that, “Yes, I think
I will be able to perform better in Biology because I prefer having games or
activities regarding a particular topic or lesson.”
 
However, some students have a different preference.
 
For example, Student 13 said “No, because I prefer reading or watching videos
online of the topic.”
 
Student 16 also says “No… there are many paper cuts and so; however, this is
better than ordinary activities.”

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Conclusions
Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn:

1- There is a significant effect of CnBL on the SAA

2- There is an extremely significant difference between the Pre-
test and Post- test scores indicating improved SAA
3- There is an evidence of varied level of SM based from the
BMQ interpretation per facet

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Conclusions
Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn:

4- There is a low rectilinear relationship between SAA and SM

5- SP indicates that learning through competition is fun

*CnBL is an effective strategy in allowing better learning and

comprehension of Biology terms among students though it may not be
suitable for some students having different learning styles and/or
preferences.

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Recommendations
Based on the results of this study, the researcher would like to
recommend the following:

1- conduct a similar study on a longer period of time to monitor the

effect of CnBL among students
2- utilize another variables or factors that might affect the results of
the study
3- measure the students’ learning styles prior to the execution of the
plan intervention
4- develop new activities that are aligned to the CnBL strategy

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Being globally competitive
starts in the classroom…

“All students — regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds — are
equally deserving of educational experiences that prepare them to be globally competent. ”

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Bibliography entries
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• Burguillo, J. C. (2010). Using game theory and competition-based learning to stimulate student motivation and performance.Computers & Education, 55,
566e575.

• Cagiltay, N.E., Ozcelik, E., &Ozcelik, N.S. (2015).The effect of competition on learning in games.Computers & Education 87, 35e41.

• Chen, C.-H., & Law, V. (2016). Scaffolding individual and collaborative game-based learning in learning performance and intrinsic motivation. Computers in Human
Behavior, 55, 1201–1212.

• Chen, C.-H., Law, V. & Chen, W-Y. (2017). The effects of peer competition-based science learning game on secondary students’ performance, achievement goals,
and perceived ability. Interactive Learning Environments, 1-10.

• Greene, B. A., Miller, R. B., Crowson, H. M., Duke, B. L., &Akey, K. L. (2004).Predicting high school students’ cognitive engagement and achievement: Contributions
of classroom perceptions and motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29, 462–482.

• Ku, O., Chen, S., Wu, D., Lao, A., Chan, T-W. (2014). The effects of game- based learning on mathematical confidence and performance: high ability vs. low ability.
Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 17 (3), 65-78.

• Hong, J. C., Hwang, M. Y., Lu, C. H., Cheng, C. L., Lee, Y. C., & Lin, C. L. (2009). Playfulness-based design in educational games: a perspective on an evolutionary
contest game. Interactive Learning Environments, 17(1), 15e35.

• Tüzün, H., Yilmaz-Soylu, M., Karakus, T., Inal, Y., &KizIlkaya, G. (2009).The effects of computer games on primary school students’ achievement and motivation in
geography learning. Computers & Education, 52(1), 68–77. doi:10.1016/j. compedu.2008.06.008

• Vandercruysse, S., Vandewaetere, M., Cornillie, F., & Clarebout, G. (2013).Competition and students' perceptions in a game-based language learning environment.
Educational Technology Research and Development, 61(6), 927-950.

• Williams R. & Clippinger C. (2002). Agression, competition and computer games: computer and human opponents. Computers in Human Behavior, 18 (5), 495-
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