- This is a fantastic website where anyone can create a contest with a problem to solve and people can respond back in an attempt to win prizes!
- I would use this tool in my content area of Social Studies. Since Social studies is a social science, one of the goals of teaching social studies is to have the students solve real-world social science problems using the scientific method. This tool seems like a perfect medium to use to get students interested in the problem solving process. What's a better motivator for secondary students than prizes?
- I could easily use this web tool in a lesson in my future Social Studies classroom. One example of the content area in Social Studies I could use this for would be Sociology. After having a brief lesson on the similarities and differences of simple societies and complex societies, I would pose the question, "Which society would most likely have a healthier population, (physically, mentally, and emotionally) a simple society, or a complex society?" I would then create a contest on prizes.org and have my students create an account (with parental permission of course). Once the students have created an account and can access my problem they will be given the assignment to use the scientific method to answer the sociology question. The students who best answer the question using the proper scientific method will be given a prize of my choosing (not a cash prize) such as a free homework pass. I believe this would motivate the students to complete the assignment and put in a full effort in order to win the prize.
- Before using this tool in the classroom I would need to consider the age of my students. Since this site is not an educational site I would need to consider weather my students are responsible and mature enough to handle the content of the website. I would also definitely need parental permission to use this site in my classroom. I would also need to make sure when I create my contest that I created it under the "just for fun" tab. I think it is illegal to illicit a cash prize to students so I would need to create a just for fun contest and maybe come up with a prize of my own I can give my students. I would also need to make sure I created the contest so that only verified users can participate in the contest. I wouldn't want anyone other than my students making comments on the contest I create.
Overall I think this would be a very useful and fun tool to use in the classroom as long as I keep my student's age and maturity in perspective.
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