Cooperative
Learning
Cooperative
Learning Structures
Some
of the most commonly used structures in higher education are discussed
in this section. These structures need to be carefully planned and executed,
but they don't require the presence of permanently formed groups in
your class.
Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity
The
use of active learning strategies, such as cooperative learning, is
growing at a remarkable rate. Professors are incorporating cooperative
learning to increase students' achievement, create positive relationships
among students, and promote students' healthy psychological adjustment
to school.
Managing
the Cooperative Classroom
Assigning
Group Roles. There are defined roles that work well in college and university
classrooms.
Active
And Cooperative Learning
Such
teacher-centered instructional methods have repeatedly been found inferior
to instruction that involves active learning, in which students solve
problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss,
explain, debate, or brainstorm during class, and cooperative learning,
in which students work in teams on problems and projects under conditions
that assure both positive interdependence and individual accountability.
Cooperative
Learning In Technical Courses
The
objectives of the report are to offer some ideas for using cooperative
learning effectively in technical courses, to give advance warning of
the problems that might arise when CL is implemented, and to provide
assurances that the eventual benefits to both instructors and students
amply justify the perseverance required to confront and overcome the
problems.
Effective
Strategies for Cooperative Learning (PDF File)
After
making every mistake in the book, he recognized that there must be more
to getting students to work together effectively than simply putting
them in groups and asking them to do something, but he wasn't sure what
it was.
Navigating
the Bumpy Road To Student-Centered Instruction
In
traditional instruction, the teacher's primary functions are lecturing,
designing assignments and tests, and grading; in SCI, the teacher still
has these functions but also provides students with opportunities to
learn independently and from one another and coaches them in the skills
they need to do so effectively.
Dynamics
Of Peer Education Cooperative Learning Workgroups (PDF file)
Our
findings suggest that professors can facilitate student group interactions
by introducing students to the two mode of teaching interaction so group
members can effectively manage exchanges of knowledge in their work,
and also by helping students distribute tasks in a way that minimizes
role imbalances.
Accounting
for Individual Effort in Cooperative Learning Teams (PDF file)
Most
cooperative learning experts agree that the approach works best if team
grades are adjusted for individual performance. If this adjustment is
not made, students who do little or no work may receive the same credit
as those who do a great deal of work, which is unfair and works against
the principle of individual accountability.
Cooperative
Learning (Students Working in Small Groups) (PDF file)
Researchers
report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small
groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than
when the same content is presented in other instructional formats.
Three
Keys to Using Learning Groups Effectively
This
article, also by Prof. Larry Michaelsen, summarizes the important things
to remember when using learning groups.
Ten
guidelines for students doing group work in mathematics
Mathematics
instructors who have used group work in their classrooms know that carefully
designed assignments and strong individual efforts by students are necessary,
but not sufficient, to guarantee a successful activity. Students also
need to develop the social skills that support productive mathematical
work with peers. To help with this, I give my students a set of guidelines
acquainting them with their rights and responsibilities during small
group work (see below).
Playing Card Activity (to get students into groups)
Playing Card Activity (to get students into groups)
The
"Change-Up": A Good Pitch to Have
in your Teaching Repertoire
We've all had the experience, probably both as teachers and learners,
of drifting off part way through a presentation. This article addresses
the empirical literature on attention span and then suggests practical
ways to counteract the all-too-natural human tendency toward cerebral
entropy.
Teaching Idea: Cooperative Controversies
You
can have each student then submit a position paper stating current thinking
and an explanation of how and why it changed after the readings and
the cooperative controversy.
What
is Cooperative Learning?
Cooperative
learning is a strategy which involves students in established, sustained
learning groups or teams. The group work is an integral part of, not
an adjunct to, the achievement of the learning goals of the class. Cooperative
learning foster s individual accountability in a context of group interdependence
in which students discover information and teach that material to their
group and, perhaps, to the class as a whole....
Three
Common Cooperative Learning Structures
There are the descriptions of three common cooperative learning structures.
Cooperative
Learning Exercises
For more complex projects, where many heads are better than one or two,
you may want to have students work in groups of three or more. As the
term "cooperative learning" suggests, students working in
groups will help each other to learn.
Thinking
Together: Collaborative Learning in Science
Thinking Together focuses on a group of professors in scientific
disciplines who have come to question traditional teaching methods that
all too often breed passivity in students.
Understanding
…learning
with understanding is a process in which a person tries to make sense
out of new information by connecting it to prior knowledge and establishing
relationships among ideas
Cooperative
Learning / Cooperative Grading
Around the nation teachers are talking about cooperative learning--that
is, students working together to teach each other. Research on cooperative
learning is producing positive reports.
A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance And Retention.
V. Comparisons with Traditionally-taught Students
A
longitudinal study at North Carolina State University, a cohort of students
took five chemical engineering courses taught by the same instructor
in five consecutive semesters. The course instruction made extensive
use of active and cooperative learning and a variety of other techniques
designed to address a broad spectrum of learning styles.
Technology-Based Instruction And Cooperative Learning
H.L.
Mencken once observed, "There is always an easy solution to every
human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong." The field of education
seems to be particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. Going back to
biblical times, people have bemoaned the terrible quality of the current
generation of students, most of whom they find to be lazy, ignorant,
and totally lacking in the critical thinking skills, moral fiber, and
intrinsic motivation to learn that previous generations—especially their
generation—had in abundance.
Writing A Group Paper
The
following outline of how to write a group paper is just that--an outline.
In the course of many hours of group work, I and my groups in various
classes have found that this is the best way to write a group paper.....
Cooperative Learning
Small group learning
