Cooperative learning is a teaching
strategy allowing an educator to use
strategically formed groups of students to
work together to learn. Cooperative learning will foster discussions among
peers and allow guided learning between them to develop. Cooperative learning
can be a faster strategy to master a new concept since learning is happening
during group work. Many ideas and strategies will be shared together and an
individual may see a new perspective they would not normally see. “Two heads
are better than one”, is an old saying every parent, teacher and employer has
passed from generation to generation.
Let us see how educators can successfully apply this in the classroom.
As we saw in the video Learning to Teach Social
Studies: Cooperative Learning (2014), cooperative learning is not just
group work. There are specific phases that must be addressed and met for true
meaningful learning to take place. Each student needs to recognize the
independent and dependent portion of the task. An educator should set up groups
of three to four students. Groups larger than that could be less effective for
certain tasks. Heterogeneous groups should
be given careful thought. Students should be grouped according to
developmental, intellectual and cultural differences. When developmental and
intellectual levels are all mixed up within a group, each group will assist
each other and bring the entire group up for understanding. Cultural
differences can allow opportunity to explore differences and stir conversation.
Groups of this nature tend to explore other options and offer different
viewpoints on how to conquer the task on hand. Once the groups are made, there
are five essential phases an educator must make clear suing the activity. A
teacher must clarify the goal of the lesson. All important information and outcomes
must be clearly stated. A teacher needs to provide all necessary learning
material for the task on hand. This can
be in the form of textbooks, student notes, other readings, manipulatives, and
other resources. In the video one
teacher provided worksheets to help students stay on task with collecting the
materials. I can see this graphic organizer as being very important in the
younger grades so students can organize their work easier and not leave any
important information out. A teacher now has to organize the study teams for
effective communication. Students should be sitting face to face so
communication can easily take place and no group member is left out. Workspace needs to be organized so every
group has their own workspace and not interfere with another group’s workspace.
This can be challenging in smaller classrooms where a larger class is present. Educators
then need to think about utilizing hall space for certain activities so
students can be more spread out.
Teachers then need to actively assist teams. It is critical for an
educator to move from group to group to ensure each group is motivated to
complete the assignment and stays on task. According to the video (2014), too much
help from a teacher can be considered interference and annoying to students yet
too little help can leave students without direction. A teacher needs to
carefully assist each team to ensure every member is doing their job and
participating in the group assignment. Teachers need to open communication up to
the group to make sure every member believes everyone is participating evenly. If
there is a belief that one team member is not participating equally, then a
group discussion needs to be implemented so the group can talk about it and fix
the problem together. To conclude the activity, each group needs to share and
evaluate the group work. Every group member is tied to the group product
equally and every member of the group should be walking away with the same
knowledge learned. In the Learning to Teach Social Studies: Cooperative Lesson Last Phase video (2014), each group presented the end product as a PowerPoint presentation and their peers had a chance to give feedback on these presentations. Teachers need to model the type of feedback expected and true learning can be achieved throughout the entire collaborative process.
Some key concerns however need to be addressed before,
during and even after the collaborative activity. All students within the group
must recognize that each member must contribute equally to the group’s final
product. According to the article, The Essential Elements of Cooperative
Learning in the Classroom, Robert
Stahl states, Students must come to comprehend and accept that everyone in
the group needs to master the common set of information and/or skills. In
selected strategies where groups select their own objectives, all members of
each group must accept their academic outcomes as ones they all must achieve (p.1).
The groups should be designed so students need each other to accomplish the
ultimate goal. The success of each individual member within the group is
essential for the entire group to be successful. This positive interdependence can
be achieved through various strategies. Shared resources or materials for a
group, forces a group to work together while also being accountable for
individual work. A group worksheet to be filled out by each member that must be
passed around is a productive way to ensure the group and each individual is
staying on task. Student roles can be
given out where each student has a different job in the group. Some examples of
these student roles are explained through Teachervision
(2014)
·
Organizer—provides the group with the overall process structure
·
Recorder—writes
down important information (e.g., directions or group work)
·
Checker—Makes
sure that all team members understand the concepts and the team's conclusions.
·
Questioner—generates questions and involves all students
·
Assessor—evaluates
the progress of each work session
·
Encourager—models and reinforces appropriate social skills
·
Summarizer- Restates the team's conclusions or answers.
·
Spokesperson—represents the group and presents group work to rest of the class
·
Timekeeper—keeps group on task and on time
·
Team facilitator—Moderates discussions, keeps the team on schedule, ensures that
work is completed by all, and makes sure that all have the opportunity to
participate and learn.
·
Elaborator—Relates the discussion with prior concepts and knowledge.
·
Research runner—Gets needed materials and is the liaison between teams and
between their team and the instructor.
Individual accountability still needs to be maintained
throughout the collaborative process.
Robert
Slavin (2014) states, “During
lessons, use informal cooperative structures that reinforce the idea of
individual accountability. Teachers make frequent use of a technique called
‘random reporter.’ Each student is given a number from 1 to 5. When teachers
ask a question, they direct it to a team and then pick a number at random. The
student on that team with that number has to respond for the whole group—and
the team can earn points based on the answer” (p.1) This ensures every member
has learned all material and everyone is responsible to make sure every member
has learned all material. Groups can get a group reward such as bonus points or
homework passes if specific targets are met.
Groups need the face-to-face social interaction in order to
successfully communicate all information. Students learn social skills during
this entire process. They learn how to resolve conflict with each other and
learn how to listen and compromise on areas. These skills are necessary
behaviors one needs to master to be successful later in college and the
real-world world. Conflict resolution is a big issue and if the teacher can guide
them, the students will learn how to be accepting of other ideas while learning
knowledge.
In all of the readings I
have done and my observations over the years in the classrooms, I have witnessed
good cooperative activities. The think pair share activity is a quick partner
up and let’s work on this together activity. The six thinking hats allow
everyone to have a specific job for the group and then these jobs will rotate
so everyone has a chance at each job. Numbered heads like random reporter
explained above ensures everyone in the group has learned all knowledge and can
report this knowledge to the teacher anytime they call out a number. Inside
outside circle is a nice activity to do with a large group for a review
activity. The inner circle rotates one direction and the outer circle rotates
in the other direction so different partnerships are created every time the
class rotates. This activity promotes all social skills since students are
working with many other students during a review activity. Jig-sawing is a nice
cooperative activity that can be done two ways. Each group in the class can
become the expert at something and then present their findings to the entire
class to learn. Jig-sawing can also be done at a group level where each member
of the group becomes an expert at a certain topic from other groups and reports
back to their individual group to teach them. Jig-sawing is a quicker method
for all students to become master of larger topics by learning through others.
An educator needs to actively monitor the cooperative learning activities at all phases to ensure success. It does take planning in the beginning but once a class learns how it works, it should be easier to implement for the next assignment. As students learn how to work collaboratively, the teacher can sit back more and listen and watch the social interactions as the active learning is taking place. Teachers need to use several variations of cooperative learning to tailor to the unique characteristic of their students. When implemented correctly where engaging lessons are taught and students are learning social skills along with academics, true meaningful learning takes place where everyone feels good about themselves and each other in the group.
Thank you for reading,
Works
Cited
Cooperative Learning. (2014). Retrieved March 8, 2015, from
https://www.teachervision.com/pro-dev/cooperative-learning/48531.html?page=1
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