Monday, April 19, 2010
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 is a big part of education. Yes everyone is learning individually, but we are also learning together. I think cooperative learning should be used in the classroom for projects and group activities. Some students work better together than on their own and by doing group activities the students are getting a little bit of each. Meaning individually and collaboration. The bad part about group projects and assignments is assessing that everyone did their fair share of work. I would want to create projects where each group member has to contribute in some way to the overall assignment. I would assess each one based on their work and also ask students, depending on grade, how they each contributed to the group and if they felt everyone did their fair share. I think in classes like math and science you would see quite a bit of cooperative learning and a little less in say writing or reading. Cooperative learning is also a way for classmates to get to know each other and become comfortable working with each other. I think in each class a teacher has will be different so then based on the class you should decide how you want to incorporate cooperative learning into that class. I would start the class with more group work so everyone knows each other and then see how they all work together to decide future lessons and assignments.
ReplyDeleteI agree when Rachel says that cooperative learning should be used in group activties and should be incorporated in the classroom. It could also be through student and teacher interaction. Cooperative learning can help students who are confused by hearing information from their peers. Sometimes students don't want to admit in front of the whole class that they don't understand what is going on, but if they can get help from a classmate that can be easier. I do believe some students work better by themselves, but even in the real world they are going to have to learn how to work with others. They might as well start now in grade school. I also think it could be hard to grade the whole group when doing group activities. Some students do more than others. I know I have been in a group when the work was not all equally shared. This is when the teacher needs to assess each students work within the group fairly. He or she also needs to set up the activity so each student has to do their fair share of the work. Overall, I believe cooperative learning is very important to incorporate within a classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about cooperative learning it is important to implement on tasks that appropriate for such learning. What Rachel and Jill have said is right on. Students will benefit from working with others, and could get more out of a lesson or activity, working with others, than if they were to do the assignment alone. It allows for different perspectives and ideas to come to the table. Also, agreeing with what Jill said some students may feel more comfortable speaking about what they do not understand with peers and in a small group than in front of the class. When looking at assessing cooperative learning it is important to assess the group as well as individually. Making sure the tasks are equally distributed. This can be attained by making the assignment easy to split up. I think it is a very important strategy to incorporate into the classroom. As mentioned it is something that is used in adulthood and starting young is never a bad thing. Overall, a very effective strategy and one that should be incorporated into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI apreciate Rachael and Jill's reflections about students may learn better from one another to clarify certain parts of a lesson taught in the classroom. I also agree with Rachael and Jill that it is important to structure a collaborative learning assignment so each student plays an active role in its completion. Teacher will need to carefully evaluate students to ensure that their individual characteristics will enable them to work successfully together in a group. Working together in a cooperative structured group teaches students to work at solving problems and finding solutions to complete an academic task. Cooperative group learning developes social skills students will utilize in today modern global economy.
ReplyDeleteI think cooperative learning should be used only on rare occasions. Its a good way to switch things up for the learning process. However if the students learn better this way then I suggest that you change to this style. Its a good way to do the easy subjects I think because you won't have to teach as much, and can have them really work together to figure out the content more. Also it can be used on the hard subjects as well, having students who are struggling and pair them up with students who are mastering the subject area. Its a good way to enhance your lessons for the higher end students, and its a good way to catch up the students who are struggling.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stacy when she says how students should be evaluated to make sure that the students will work well together. I think that students should also be evaluated on overall group performance and the work of the individual. A lot of my teachers did this and I think that it works because than some individuals who slack, and those who control everything will have to share some of the responsibilities. I also agree that it builds their problem solving skills, but I also think it develops their team work skills, and their communication skills. Cooperative learning is a great way to get them started on the skills that they will need in the professional world of working with others, and communicating.
ReplyDeleteI think cooperative learning should be implemented in the classroom every once in awhile. I think it is important for students to learn the skills of working together because it is something they will have to do throughout their whole lives. Not only does it benefit the students in this way, but it also helps students who may have trouble understanding the concepts because they get to bounce ideas off of each other and learn from each other. I think working together is a very important skill to possess. I think cooperative learning can be assessed in a group evaluation. I've done this before and I think it is a good way to assess each student. The teacher may not have time to pay attention to every group and notice the effort of each student. Having group members evaluate each other will help get a better idea of the effort put forth by each student.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jill that cooperative learning can be helpful to students who do not feel comfortable expressing their thoughts to the whole class. Cooperative learning allows for students to express their thougths to a smaller group of students and can take away some of the anxiety. It is also true that not all students prefer working together but being able to work well with others is an important skill to have. There is really no way to avoid working with others because it is highly likely that you will be working with someone else at some point down the road so working on this skill at a young age would be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI think that cooperative learning needs to be implemented into the classroom because everyone will have to work with a group of their peers in their lifetime. I think that it should be used for projects and group activities, but should also be used for during periods in learning. I think that it should be used as a tool in formative assessment. Students can work together to go over information that has been presented to them and check their understanding. This will give students an opportunity to see if others understand the material the same way as them. It will also let students correct others so students will not have to "admit" that they don't understand in front of the class. I know I was always one in school that would not raise my hand if I did not understand. I did not like the negative attention that was drawn to myself because I didn't understand. If this technique is being used, it should be assessed differently then regular assignments however. In a group, the students should be able to anonymously say their opinions about whether the other students participated and how well they participated. I know I have worked on group projects where one person did all the work while the other one did nothing and we were graded the same. Students need to be assessed individually for that particular aspect, however they need to be graded as a group for how well they completed the task.
ReplyDeleteI think that cooperative learning is beneficial to those that really do work better in a group. I think that the students should be given a choice on whether they feel comfortable working in a group or working on their own. I also think that the students should be graded based on their individual work rather than group work. If they are graded based on their own work than it will be more accurate to what they know and can do.
ReplyDeleteCooperative learning can play a major part in a classroom. I just learned recently that students learn most when they teach each other rather than being lectured to. This says a lot for cooperative learning. Some students learn better in a group, while others learn better individually. I think it is important to implement individual learning and cooperative learning in the classroom at different times. If students do not understand something from the teacher they are most likely to go to another student for help. I also agree with Jill when she says that it helps students learn to work together. Everyone ends up working with someone at some point int their life, so it is good to start them learning to work together when they are young.
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