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June 2009
“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
—
President Harry S. Truman
Cooperative Learning Activities
Many activities and
projects call for students to work together in small groups.
This is often referred to as cooperative learning. In
cooperative learning, students interact with and teach one
another, while the teacher acts primarily as a facilitator,
rather than a presenter. As with any teaching strategy, there
are benefits and potential problems associated with cooperative
learning.
The
benefits of group work
• Students learn from each
other
• Students become active
learners
• Interpersonal skills are
developed
• Students take responsibility
for learning
• Students learn consensus
building
• Students learn time and
resource management skills
• Students learn how to be
team players
• Less grading is usually
required
The
potential problems of cooperative learning
• Overuse can lead to boredom
and issues between students
• Assigning grades that are a
true reflection of both individual and group effort can be
difficult
• It can be challenging to
keep groups on-task
• Noise levels often escalate
Cooperative learning must be taught and practiced
It is important to realize that working cooperatively is
a skill that must be taught and practiced. Just telling
students to get into groups and complete an assignment
will probably result in confused and frustrated
students, an unacceptable noise level, and numerous
off-task behaviors. So whenever possible, try to
reinforce the procedures, routines, and expectations of
the permanent teacher during group work.
If specific instructions and details have not been left
by the permanent teacher, you may need to implement your
own cooperative learning strategies. Outlined below are
instructions for a simplified version of cooperative
learning developed by Dr. Carolyn Andrews-Beck.
• Group students.
Create groups based on student abilities and
personalities or form groups based on the seating
arrangement. Do not let students self-select groups.
Keep the groups small, usually between three to five
students per group.
• State the objective
and instructions for the group work, then have students
arrange themselves so that they can all see everyone
else's face and re-state the assigned task:
The job is . . .
We will know we have finished when . . .
• Set a time limit for
the activity.
• Establish roles and
have students begin working together toward
accomplishing the objective outlined in step two.
Assigning roles helps facilitate learning. Giving each
member of the group a specific assignment guarantees
their involvement. Students who are actively involved
are more likely to learn. The following are common role
assignments and responsibilities:
• Director, Captain, Leader,
or Manager: The group leader responsible for keeping the group
members on-task and working toward the objective
• Recorder: Records
information for the group?s activities, fills out worksheets, or
prepares written material from information provided by the group
• Materials Manager:
Responsible for obtaining and returning equipment, materials,
and supplies necessary for the activity
• Procedure Director: Reads
instructions, explains procedures, makes sure the activity is
being carried out correctly
• Cleanup Leader: Supervises
the cleanup of the group?s area at the end of the activity or
project
The following suggestions will help you facilitate successful
cooperative learning activities:
• Make a timeline with
specific timeframes assigned to each component of the activity,
including teacher instruction and clean up.
• Mentally walk through the
entire activity to determine what skills you will need to teach
students, how best to arrange supplies, and to make sure the
activity "flows" from start to finish.
• Anticipate problems or
conflicts and how you will manage them.
• Keep groups small? five
members maximum.
• Make sure the number of
jobs/duties equals the number of students in the group.
• Before the activity begins,
make sure all students understand the purpose of the activity,
the materials that will be used, the steps to be completed and
the acceptable noise level.
• When using cooperative
learning, never assume anything. Always review behavior
expectations regardless of the age or ability level of your
students.
• Remember that cooperative
learning is not down time for you. Monitor groups constantly;
point out successful groups and what they are doing well. If you
have a group who is off-task or struggling to complete the
activity, join the group yourself. By doing this you can find
out about problems they are having and guide their actions.
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