Monday, April 16, 2012
Instructional Strategies
Cooperative learning is one type of instructional strategy. Students at all levels, K-post secondary, are often engaged in cooperative learning at some time during an academic year. Some students learn best when working with others, while the opposite is true for some. How do you think cooperative learning should be implemented into classrooms? How do you think cooperative learning should be assessed?
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Cooperative learning has both positives and negatives to it. I feel like cooperative learning works for some students but not for others. Some students may be shy and would rather not share their ideas with other students. On the other hand, there may be students who work very well by bouncing ideas off of each other to create something great. Working in smaller groups also works on students' communication skills which is extremely important for the real world. Overall, I think cooperative learning should be used in the classroom occassionally but not all the time. When it comes time to assess the students, I think they should be graded individually and as a whole group. This way, the students know they all need to put in a fair amount of effort.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you stated about cooperative learning. I never thought about those students who are shy and might have a hard time working or talking with other students. I think as teachers we need to think of ways to lesson the awkwardness for these students to make them feel the most comfortable they can. If they don't feel comfortable within their group, they will be less likely to participate which will ultimately make their group members mad at them for not helping out. I think when assigning group projects or work, the work needs to be divided up and given to each student by the teacher. This way there is no "easier" subject than another and there is no fighting between group members; what the teacher gives you is what you get.
DeleteI agree that it can be both positive and negative for students. It is important for students to get that experience, but also learn not to rely on others for all aspects of their learning. Cooperative learning does need to be done in the classroom, but not all the time like you stated in your post.
DeleteNicole Schroeder
Cooperative learning is something that all students do, no matter what level of school they are in. For some students, this method of learning really benefits them because they can brainstorm ideas with a partner which provides them with immediate feedback. For other students, this method of learning is intimidating because some students don’t like to share their ideas with others. And of course there are those students who feel as though they don’t need to contribute to the group at all and will pass with an easy A off of everyone else’s hard work and ideas. To prevent these students from relying on others to do all the work for them, teachers need to implement a grading system that grades each individual student as well as the whole group. Students should also be allowed to evaluate each person in their group. I think cooperative learning should be implemented on projects and some everyday lessons. If you choose to do cooperative learning for each lesson every day, students may get too comfortable with this idea and take advantage of this time to socialize and do other things not related to an assignment. Group projects are a great time to implement cooperative learning because projects could cover a large range of information and working with a group will decrease the amount of research an individual student has to do by him/herself.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this way of learning is more beneficial towards some students than others. Either way, students are working on their communication skills which are essential to develop for the real world. One thing I did not think of including was the part where each student evaluates their group members. Teachers need to take these opinions into consideration when deciding on an individuals final grade.
DeleteI believe that cooperative learning has benefits to some students that are not shared with their classmates. Some students work very hard on the project and others just take the credit. They must learn to work with others because they will need to use that skill in the real world. Assessing these group tasks should be a combination of group and individual grading. This method should keep everyone a little more honest.
DeleteI like how you talk about implementing grading systems to ensure that each group member does their share of the work. There should be some way to add that on to the grading rubric.
DeleteReply to Melissa:
ReplyDeleteI think your ideas are great and it seems to me that you understand the concept. I agree with you that all students are different and learn in different ways. I feel that it is important to use cooperative learning but not all the time. Nice job!
I think that cooperative learning is a very important part of the learning experience. I feel that students start to connect with one another and are able to gain information from each other. It includes communication which is great because teachers do not get the one on one time that they need with students a lot of times so by having the students work together, they are able to answer each other’s questions and work together. I feel that cooperative learning could be used in all kinds of subject areas in the classroom. I feel it is a great way for the students to think on their own and give the teacher their ideas. I also feel that this could be a negative because not all students are the same or feel comfortable doing the group work. I do feel this is important but it should not be used at all times. I feel that cooperative learning should be assessed by participation. We need to monitor the students in a formative way. If it were a project, then I would do a rubric of some type.
ReplyDeleteJillian,
DeleteI agree with you that students definitely can learn information from one another, especially when teachers do not have time to help each individual student with the topic. A rubric is a great idea for cooperative learning to make sure all parts of the experience are taken into consideration.
Sara Reicks
Sara,
DeleteI do feel that students can learn from one another as well. It is always interesting to see the high achieving students assist the low achieving students. On the other hand, there are cases when children get pushed aside and don't have the opportunity to voice their opinion. This is when the teachers need to step in and guide the instruction and group work.
I feel that cooperative learning is a great thing in the classroom. It introduces students to situations that they are going to face in the real world. It is a sensitive topic for some students as they feel like they don't really belong or fit in. However, it is important for all students to realize that sometimes you will have to work with people that you don't really get along with. I feel like it should be balanced with individual work in the classroom. If you have all individual work, the students won't get any group experience, which will hurt them in the long run. However, if you only do cooperative learning, the students are never fully assessed on their own abilities but what their group can do as a whole. I feel like cooperative learning can be used in almost any subject and at any age level.
ReplyDeleteNicole Schroeder
I beleive cooperative learning is good for big projects & presentations when there is a lot of material to cover. Students can learn from each other but it is important that everyone is truly working and not leaving the workload for their partners to do. It should be assessed based on individual work and cooperation. I will implement cooperative learning into my classroom for discusssion based lessons and activities. Cooperative learning can be very useful when implemented at the correct time.
ReplyDeleteSara Reicks
Sara, I agree with you that cooperative learning must be implemented at the correct times otherwise it may be doing more harm than good. It is important to remember that some things just need to be done individually while other things can be done in a group.
DeleteI believe that all students can benefit from cooperative learning. I think that students need to have an open mind about learning in cooperative learning groups and they often need to be reminded of this. I think cooperative groups should be implemented the most for things such as problem based learning and projects that have the students explore and learn on their own. Cooperative learning is a hard type of learning to assess. It is hard to know how much one student is learning based on the group work. Therefore, it should be assessed as a group and individually. Not all the group members do the same amount of work and I think that always needs to be taken into consideration.
ReplyDeleteCooperative Learning can be extremely beneficial for some students and mean the exact opposite for others. I find that cooperative learning needs to be implemented now and then for the sake of learning to work with others. It is important to learn social skills and to adapt to new situations. When it comes to grading, I feel like each student should receive their own grade depending on the age level of the student. It is important that students gain pride in their own work and they should understand that they need to participate in order to receive their rightful grade.
ReplyDelete