Wednesday, December 1, 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?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Since some people learn better with others while others learn better alone, I think it's important to include both cooperative learning and individual learning in the classroom. There needs to be a balance of the two so that everyone has an opportunity to learn in the way they learn best. Cooperative learning can be assessed through observation. It wouldn't be difficult to watch the groups or pairs as they work to make sure everyone is participating or to step in when they aren't.
ReplyDeleteI think cooperative learning is an important part of learning. In the real world we won't always be working alone to finish a presentation or to come up with a big plan, so why should we deprive our students of that experience in school. Even if some do not learn well that way, the only way they are going to get experience and succeed through cooperative learning is learning how to learn in a cooperative group. I think sometimes teachers just need to slow down and implement cooperative group work slowly and teach students how to work in a cooperative group and be successful at it. If students are equipped with the right tools and strategies to be an effective group member that makes the whole team more effective, it will be a win win. To assess this and make sure this happens, there should be two different grades. An individual grade so each person is held accountable, and then a group grade. This will help keep individuals motivated and hopefully prevent students from "riding on the tails" of other students. I think it also could be beneficial to have the students conduct peer assessments. It is hard as a teacher to know what is going on within groups all of the time. By having students evaluate each other, it will give us as teachers another source of information to base grades on.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to remember is how the groups are formed as well. We can't just always let students pick their group members. We have to give them to opportunity to work with others to learn how to work with people who don't do things the same as them. This will be an important skill for them to have in the future. This also helps improve the reliability of the peer assessments by knowing that a student is not just giving their friends all good scores because they're his/her friends.
I believe cooperative learning is very important and beneficial for all students. It is important for students to socialize and be able to work together with different people, whether they're friends or not. Yes, some students prefer to work alone so I think it's important to let students work individually some times. But, a lot of times students who like to work individually are the ones who are scared to make friends/socialize with other people. If teachers let those students work by themselves all the times, the students will not get the opportunity to make friends or work together with other people.
ReplyDeleteCooperative learning can be a wonderful tool for the classroom. For example, if students are put into groups of 4-6 and do a WebQuest on what presidents appear on U.S. coins then it is important to recognize not just the group effort, but the individuals effort. The mentality of "sink or swim" is important because without one member of the group, the project can not be accomplished. Students should be assessed on the efforts of the group as a whole when completing the project like giving a presentation of the newsletter they created from the material found on the presidents on U.S. coins. Groups can also be graded when the teacher checks for understanding with the group and evaluates how they feel about the presentation. The students will all have roles (researcher, writer, leader, and summarizer), so peer assessments and self-evaluations can be given for the individuals. Cooperative learning should be looked at as a whole along with the assessment practices you are going to give.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lindsay that teachers need to slow down and implement cooperative learning slowly along with carefully for the students. All of the students in the classroom do not have the same skill sets or preferences, so as teachers we need to recognize it. That does not mean scrapping cooperative learning or being all about it. Just be careful with the implementation of it and that your learning goals/objectives really fit the model of cooperative you will use. I also like how Lindsay stated that we should not always let students pick their group members. That might be okay once, but you need to set the groups as you see fit when teaching. This way, the students will work with someone new or someone they do not know very well to gain new insight, encourage/motivate each other, and hopefully flourish in the cooperative learning process.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is a good system to have information on and experience in because it is being used in classrooms more. When cooperative learning is introduced it would be helpful to do it slowly so that students can understand what is going to happen with the new technique. When implementing it into the classroom one should use cooperartive learning to help students of varying levels learn. By having students work in groups it allows them to learn in different ways and brainstorm new ideas. I think that in order to assess cooperative learning one would have to understand the levels of student participation and growth during the unit.
ReplyDeleteCooperative groups allow students opportunities to learn that they would not have if working individually. Working in a group allows everyone to share their ideas and bounce them off of one another. This then allows group members to add on to it and improve an idea making it a collective group effort to come up with an idea for a certain project and then also the plan to carry it out. I think it is so important for students to learn from each other because not only do statistics show that students learn from teaching others the best, but it also allows students to see the way other students might do something. This insight into the different ways something can be done "right" is an important concept for students to grasp. Even if a group member is below level, they may be creative and add something the group lacks. That is why it is important to carefully structure cooperative learning groups and teach them how to work together to succeed. If this is done, cooperative groups can be a great addition to any classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Samantha, students learn in different ways and that there should be a plethora of styles available in the classroom. With cooperative learning students can work together and gain different insight on problems. A way to assess this would be through both observation and assessment through projects. It is important to allow students to work together but it should also be structured so that students can gain from the experience.
ReplyDeleteI think that cooperative learning is an important instructional strategy for students to take part in. As a teacher, it is our job to prepare students for the future and the future careers they may have. Many jobs require individuals to work with one another to achieve a specific goal. Having students work with one another throughout their educational career will allow them to make a smooth transition into a workforce. I think that cooperative learning should be implemented frequently in a learning environment. A simple worksheet could turn into a cooperative learning opportunity by having students work together to complete the assignment. Peers writing a story, script, play etc. are also taking part in cooperative learning. More complex assignments such as projects or learning centers can provide opportunities for students to work together. It’s important for students to understand the reason for working together, such as the workforce, rather than believing they are working together to be with their friends. When assessing cooperative learning I think it’s important for each student’s efforts should be recognized as well as how well the group worked as a whole. There will always be an individual who will sit back and watch the group work while there will always an individual that will “take over” the group. By giving each student an individual grade for their efforts, perhaps the group work will be evenly distributed. It’s also important to consider student feedback about their group members when determining how well they worked together.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it is great work in groups. As long as it is effective for your class. I feel that students can reall benefit from this. Teaching students to work with another person will be a great teaching tool for the rest of their life. Students will experience grouop work everywhere they go. There will be some students who feel they can do better on their own. It is important to promote group work for these people. Try to include all students in group work. the sooner the students know how to work in groups the sooner they will get used to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrew, this is a great way for students to learn. Using a webquest is a great way to incorporate collaborative learning. Students all have diffreent roles. This is a lot like the real world. The sooner we can teach students real life skills along with the basic curriculum the better off the students will be.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s important to implement cooperative learning into the classroom because in life you are required to work with people all the time. Cooperative learning can help increase students’ social skills and help them to bounce ideas off of other people. However, some students prefer to work alone so I think it’s important to incorporate both cooperative and individual learning in your classroom. Some ways you could include cooperative learning is to have students work in groups to complete a research project. For example if you were teaching about WWII, you could have the students create a newspaper to show the things that were happening during this time period. You could assess the students individually on what part of the newspaper they contributed to and you could also assess the students collaboratively on how well they worked together to produce their final project.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Samantha when she says that there needs to be a balance between cooperative learning and individual learning so that way everyone has the opportunity to learn in the way that they learn best. I know I’ve never enjoyed group work but it’s not because I was shy or nervous about working with other people, it was just simply the fact that I’d rather work on things by myself. Although I feel this way, I still believe it’s very important as a teacher to incorporate collaborative work in your classroom because it’s necessary for students to learn to work with other students regardless of whether they enjoy it or not because in the real world they may not always have the choice of working on things on their own.
ReplyDeleteI realy do think that Cooperative learning is very important in the classroom. Students and teachers do need to work together to make sure that the classroom goes as smoothly as possible. Group work is the best way for students to learn so that is what i think i will do when it comes to teaching them. So learning is what we are really tryint to do with our students.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with everyone above they all have good points that are basically the same thing. WE all agree with it and we think that it needs to be in the classroom, as well