Project WIN

 

OVERVIEW

 

Project WIN (Working out Integrated Negotiations) is a curriculum designed to increase cooperation between classmates and decrease conflict.  In this study, students were randomly assigned to receive the Project WIN curriculum or continue their normal school schedule.  Students in the Project WIN group showed significant increases in cooperative attitudes toward classmates and in cooperative attitudes toward conflict when compared with the control group.

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

 

Target population: Fifth grade students.

 

Project WIN takes place in the classroom over 17, 45-60 minute sessions.  A typical session involves a review of the previous day's material, a preview of the upcoming material, a brainstorming session about important terms for the current day's material, and participatory exercises, such as role-play, to reinforce the lesson. 

 

Sessions focus: transforming a competitive social context to a cooperative social context and teaching integrative negotiation strategies.  Examples of activities designed to help students develop cooperative attitudes toward classmates include ice breakers at the beginning of a session about new or good things in their life, brainstorming sessions about classroom rules to increase trust,  and a series of cooperative games where students work together to reach a common goal.  Examples of activities designed to help students develop cooperative attitudes toward conflict include brainstorming sessions about ways to calm down when upset, lessons about alternatives to violence, and strategies to create win-win situations.

 

Training for Project WIN costs $1,000 per trainee for a total of 17 sessions. Trainees receive a manual and certificate of completion.

 

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

 

Roberts, L., White, G., & Yeomans, P. (2004). Theory development and evaluation of Project WIN: A violence reduction program for early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 24(4), 460-483.

 

Evaluated population: Thirty four fifth grade students in a kindergarten through 8^th grade school in a low-income, urban area in Pennsylvania participated in this study.  The median family income in the area is approximately $26,000.  In the study, 75% of the students were African American, 19% were Caucasian, and 6% were Hispanic.  Sixty three percent of the students in the study were female.

 

Approach: Students were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 19) or control group (n = 15) at the beginning of the school year.

 

Students were assessed at post-test on their cooperative attitudes toward classmates and on cooperative attitudes toward conflict.  Students were scored on these attitudes using 19 items with Likert-type responses.  Items for cooperative attitudes toward classmates included "I would like to be friends with the kids in this class," "If I tell a secret in this class, it will stay secret," and "When I need help, I can count on the kids in this class."  Items for  cooperative attitudes toward conflict included "When I have a conflict with someone, I want to win and I want the other person to lose" and "People who stay calm during a conflict can stay out of a fight."

 

Results: Students in the treatment group had a significant increase in cooperative attitudes towards classmates (a large effect size of 0.9) when compared with the control group, including the Liking (a large effect size of 1.12) and Teamwork (a large effect size of 0.74) subscales.  There was no significant difference between groups on the Trust subscale.  Students in the treatment group also had a significant increase in cooperative attitudes toward conflict (effect size = 0.79) when compared with the control group.

 

 

 

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

Laura Roberts Ph.D., M.Ed,

Roberts Educational Research

44 Douglas Road

Landsdale, PA 19446

 

Phone: 215-822-8623

Email: LRinchworm@comcast.net

 

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/registry.html  (scroll down to Project WIN)

 

References

Roberts, L., White, G., & Yeomans, P. (2004). Theory development and evaluation of Project WIN: A violence reduction program for early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 24(4), 460-483.

 

 

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

 

Evaluated participant ages: middle childhood

 

Program components: school-based

 

Measured outcomes: social and emotional health, life skills

 

KEYWORDS: Cost, Children, Elementary, Co-ed, Black, White, School-based, Skills training, Urban, Social skills, Life skills

 

Program information last updated 9/24/09

 

 

 

 

 

		© Child Trends 2003