Colloquiu m: game theory

Teacher : Mr. Lim Weng Seong Members : yeoh way hup, Krishna, tan hin khai, partibhan, tan soon jin
Acknowledgement
This project is a great success thanks to the endless support given by our honorable teachers, enthusiastic friends and also our family members. Without their moral support and resources given, this project will never have reached its end. At times we find it difficult to plan and analyze our data. However, with some clear and insightful guidance from Mr. Lim will often point us to the right path. Besides that, there were some theories that are beyond our comprehension and the Internet is of no help at all. In these situations, teamwork is crucial and most students will provide their own opinions and constructive advice. We will also like to extend our greatest appreciation to the Internet communities, especially the pioneers in the field
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of Game Theory. John Von Neumann and John Nash were two of the most respectable figures in this field and without their research, this project would have been nearly impossible to be executed properly. Furthermore, our project builds on theories such as the Nash Equilibrium and Prisoners Dilemma. The school administration too had given us full cooperation and incredible freedom to express our ideas and put them into actions. Lastly, we will never forget some individuals that have directly or indirectly contributed to the progress of our project.

Content
Literature Review .. 4

Introduction 5

Methodology ... 6, 7

Analysis of Data .. 8, 9

Conclusion .. 10

Relevant Documents .. 11
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Citations . 12

Literature Review
The project is conducted in order to test the principles of Game Theory that had existed since the time of Nobel Laureate, John Nash. No doubt that many parties find game theory rather impractical and mathematics is not suitable to predict human behaviors which are thought to be random and unpredictable. However, game theory has matured a great deal since its inception and many fields such as business, economy, and criminology. Many references were made to books such as: Game Theory for Applied Economists, Game Theory: A non-technical introduction, Theory of Game Theory and Economic Behavior and Rock, Paper, Scissors. After delving deeper into these resources, we found out the core principles of Game Theory can be applied readily into the educational system and by doing so academic performance could be enhanced to its optimal level. We are particularly interested on the issue of effective group study
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among students. Research has shown that group study rarely produces any noticeable improvement due to many other factors. However, with the application of Game Theory, group study can be revolutionized to produce greater impact on academic performance a as whole. The project is started solely to incorporate Game Theory into the school curriculum.

Introduction
In the dawn of an era where success is catalyzed by high intelligence, emotional and spiritual quotient that further coupled by strategic thinking, competition is manifolds stiffer. Only the patient and wise will survive this rather wicked world. Similarly in school, competition for better grades has produced a new generation of humans. Theyre forced to cope and evolved with time and reality. Darwin was right after all! Those who adapted well have managed to survive. However, those who couldnt were doomed to complications. So, what is this adaptation? Whats the key ensuring academic excellence alongside building a perfect character to face the cruel world? After many hours of squeezing our brains, we thought it might a good idea to unite education and game theory. We call this The Great Merge What is game theory?
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It is a mathematical method decision-making in which a competitive situation is analyzed to determine the optimal course of action for an interested party, often used in politics, economic, and military training. Since Game Theory is applicable only in group elated situations, we had come up with a method to invoke Game Theory into studying in group. The Great Merge This unification is particularly important to our research because it shows us how influential is the application of game theory into the educational system. As I considered this, I thought about which educational approaches might mesh best with game theory. Then the heavens opened up and a light shone upon Benjamin Blooms Mastery approach. (Chris Woodside, a researcher who has a blog).

Methodology
How to ace that test? This is a fundamental question thats been asked by almost every student. Yet, only some have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Fear not, heres the solution, by applying the right techniques, success is within grasps. We have to the conclusion that group study and studying alone has a pretty distinctive effect Problem statement How does Game Theory help in providing better academic achievement? Aim

To determine the effectiveness of certain study habits that applies Game Theory Our scope of research involves Form Sixth students from Science stream only. The reason to this choice is to ensure a more precise data is obtained. This is because students from science stream studies up to three subjects in common, whilst those from the Arts have only one subject in common or none at all. Hence, explaining our fussiness in choosing our subjects Data & Method Our subjects were divided into three distinct categories, being those who study alone, those who study in group with our suggested technique and those who study in group with their own preferences. They are chosen based on data obtained from the survey sheets. We will be doing a comparison between the results obtained from last years End Year examination with this Mid Term Examination. The groups average improvement will be calculated to prove its effectiveness Data Collection Three distinctive methods had been deployed to obtain all the information and data that we need. These methods are: Surveying Our survey form was planned out carefully to obtain specific information on our subjects. Observation We observe the behaviors of students and their progress in class since we have our group members in both the classes. We provide motivations to group that are about to stagnate.

Interviewing A few individuals were interviewed to understand the reasons behind their struggles in academic

Analysis of Data
Data obtained from the school administration is utilized to study the comparative advantage for the following groups: 1. G1 = 3 students with average marks from 6RB ( study as a group ) 2. G1 = 3 students with average marks from 6RB ( study individually ) 3. G2 = 2 students with above average marks from 6RB ( study as a group ) 4. G2 = 4 students average marks from 6RB ( study individually ) 5. G3 = 3 students with average marks from 6RC ( study as a group ) 6. G3 = 3 students with average marks from 6RB ( study individually )
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Application of Game Theory A group of good friends with very similar results are chosen to increase the success of the project because good friends will have higher commitment to each other because according to game theory, they will still meet each other after the event, thus they are more willingly to commit in order to maintain a good relationship ( high payoff ) G1 was told that 30% of their mark will be obtained from the group average. This is also another application of game theory which stresses on punishing those who prefer to work individually. G2 is formed from 2 individuals to investigate whether conflicts will arise from fewer members. Game theory involving two individuals is much more predictable compared to three or more individuals. Code names were chosen by participants to protect their privacy in this project

G1
50 0 Joker -50 Sky Soup wants ice Phy Chm Pa Mt

20 10 0 -10 -20 X-Lala

G1'
Fcuk Bobo

Phy Chm Pa Mt

Average: + 26.3 %

Average: + 1.01 %

20 10 0 -10 -20 Markovnikoff

G2
Robert Oppenheimer

40 Phy Chm Pa Mt 20 0 -20 -40

G2'

Phy Chm Pa Mt

Average: + 4.28 %

Average: - 6.70%

15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 Pay2 Rabbit

G3
Bio Chm Cake Zzz Pa Mt

15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 Chiko CC

G3'
Bio Chm Kami Kfc Pa Mt

Average: + 2.40 %

Average: - 9.00 %

Conclusion
G1 shows a significant improvement in their marks and this further confirms our theory that a group study should be guided and followed a structure in order to achieve success. Besides that, we found out that subject like Mathematics and General Studies dont really benefit much from group due to nature of the exams. The application of game theory on G1 has driven them to work together to achieve the group success as compared to other groups. However, G2 which consists of above average students benefit less from group study as their marks were relatively high and more personal tuning on their weaknesses were required than group study which focus more on understanding a certain core concepts which are vital to achieve success. G1 shows a very low increase in their marks when they work alone and this tells us that students who are average should take the initiative to form a study group whenever possible. However,
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again we see an increase in Mathematics for this group. This reinforces our hypothesis that Mathematics should be studied alone. On one hand, G2 suffered a major decline in their average marks when they studied individually. On the other hand, G2 with only 2 students still managed to show some increase in their average marks. This may be due to the presence of competition between two individuals on the same group that drive each other to achieve better result. Game Theory says that the payoff is high because when you are very good at something, you do not want to drag the group down with your marks.

Attachment

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Citations

1. Academic Earth- Yale Game Theory Video Course http://www.academicearth.org/courses/game-theory 2. Game Theory Approach to New Classroom Grading System http://www.tnewfields.info/Articles/game.htm 3. Beauty and Geek Game Theory http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/08/15/our-daily-bleg-beauty-and-the-geek-gametheory/ 4. Does Game Theory Improve the World http://theoryclass.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/does-game-theory-improve-the-world/ 5. 3 predictions on the future of Iran, and the math to back it up: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita http://blog.ted.com/2009/04/07/3_predictions_o/

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