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Cooperative Learning

Outline

• Theoretical support
• Planning cooperative learning
• Conducting cooperative learning
• Managing the learning environment
• Assessment and evaluation

Theoretical and

Empirical Support

Managing

Managing the Learning Environment

It is not easy to provide cooperative learning environment because of lack of students' attention or insufficient information about cooperating so in order to make more student engage in a cooperative learning you should follow the given steps that below;

• describe to students how to accomplish a complex group project.
• organize students into study teams and get them to cooperate.

3 - Communication Skills

- promote listening skills during some discussions by having students repeat back parts teacher or students says.

4 - Group Skills

- use Kagan team building skills.

- use team interviews.

- use team murals.

1 - Helping with Transitions

• write essential steps on the blackboard or on the charts.
• mention directions clearly and ask two or three students to paraphrase the directions.
• name and clearly mark a location for each learning team.

In Cooperative Learning Environments Students;

• frequently work as a team
• actively solve meaningful problems
• publicly exhibit their learning
• reflect on what they are learning and doing
• apply quality criteria to their work
• take responsibility for and ownership of their learning.

Teachers must foster positive interdependence

The changing role of the teacher requires them to use new --- techniques, skills and strategies. It involves;

• doing more planning and design work in advance
• forming different kinds of groups for different purposes
• using different methods to compose and recompose groups
• discussing ground rules with students to help them move from debate and discussion to dialogue
• training peers to teach peers.
• using techniques such as jigsaws and carousels to promote collaborative working in class.
• taking time to give more feedback on the process of learning as well as the product of learning and on how well students work together.

Useful Links For Cooperating Learning

2 - Teaching Cooperation

• students may not know how to work cooperatively.
• teach students how to share materials.
• teach social skills which are behaviors that promote successful social relationships and enable individuals to work effectively with others.
• teach them how to participate-use Kagan structures to help students feel safe to speak and work in their groups.

What is cooperative learning?

Links

Video Links;

Jigsaw Structure

Effects of Kagan structures

Cooperative Learning Advices

Conducting

Find the most useful Kagan structure for your class: http://www.t2tuk.co.uk/downloads/The%20Essential%205.pdf

Cooperative Learning Strategies: http://www.regent.edu/acad/schedu/pdfs/mcms/cooperative_learning_strategies.pdf

Assesment

Recognizing Cooperative Effort

There are several ways to recognizing cooperative learning. Some of them are:

• Displaying group work in the halls
• Publishing teams' names in a class newsletter.
• Giving certificates to team members.

Document Links;

Grading Cooperative Learning

When grading students, teacher should do below.

• Give an individual test for each student
• Keep to size of group to making easy individual grading
• Observe each group to diagnose which members contribute group work
• Randomly examine students orally
• Assign role of students in group

Assessment and Evaluation

Assessing Cooperation

One of the primary goals of the Cooperating Learning is developing social skills and group working. By this way students learn not only the lecture but also practice group work and work sharing. Students also should be a part of the assessment system. Otherwise students may not be interest in this system.

Testing Academic Learning

According to some version of Jigsaw, students should take test to measure what they learn from the instruction. The quiz should be objective. Making quiz test can be best choice and they can be scored after instruction or more after.

When conducting the cooperative learning, there is some steps which should be implemented;

• Clarify Aims and Establish Set,
• Present Information Verbally, in Text, or Online,
• Organize Students in Study Teams;
• Assist Teamwork and Study

The major purpose of assessment is to develop student learning.

Assessment gives valid information about student improvement for teachers, parents and students according to goals and objectives. Assessment and evaluation in cooperative learning is done individually and group work. Assessment is important to improve student and group achievement.

Clarify Aims and Establish Set

Effective teachers begin all lessons by reviewing explaining their objectives in understandable language and showing how the lesson ties into previous learning. Because many cooperative learning lessons extend beyond a particular day or week and because the goals and objectives are multifaceted, the teacher normally puts special emphasis on this phase of instruction.

Present Information Verbally, in Text, or Online

If a cooperative learning lesson requires students to read print or online text, then effective teachers, regardless of the age level of their students or the subject taught, will assume responsibility for helping students become better readers.

Group Investigation

END

THE END

Assist Teamwork and Study

Uncomplicated cooperative learning activities allows students to complete their work with minimum interruption and assistance by the teacher. However, for other activities, the teacher may need to work closely with each of their learning teams.

Task Oriented Roles

• Taskmaster – keeps group members on task,
• Material monitor – picks up and returns materials,
• Coach or content helper – helps members with content of the lesson,

Organize Students in Study Teams

The process of getting students into learning teams and getting them started on their work is perhaps one of the most difficult steps for teachers using cooperative learning. There is nothing more frustrating to teachers than transitional situations in which thirty students moving into small groups, not sure of what they are to do and each demanding the teachers’ attention and help.

Process Oriented Roles

• Gatekeeper – helps members share air space, equalizes participation,
• Encourager – encourages reluctant members to participate,
• Checker – helps members check for understanding,
• Reflector / timekeeper – reminds members of progress or lack of thereof,

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Planing

Planning cooperative learning

Cooperative learning really requires detailed plans for time, organizations and other duties.

Choose Content

In cooperative learning choosing content is very important

While choosing content teacher should consider;

• Students prior knowledge
• The material used in lecture
• Topic should have sub-topics
• Not using a lot of text and boring things

Choose an Approach

After teacher choice their content, they should choose their approach that they will use .This approach may depend on topic that is previously defined by teacher. There are four approach

• STAD (Students Team Achievement Divisions)
• Jigsaw
• Group Investigation
• Structural approach

STAD

In this approach teacher present the new knowledge and then construct heterogeneous groups consisting of 3-4 people.Student help each other by quizzing , tutoring and discussion.

JIGSAW

Groups consisting of 5-6 students are constructed.in the expert group the material is represented and the students in expert group go back to their original group and so each group have a expert on each of the subtopics.

Group Investigation

This approach is the most difficult approach to apply.Group are formed by the teacher and at the end of the lesson student prepare reports.This approach contain six steps;

• Topic Selection
• Cooperative Planning
• Implementation
• Analysis and synthesis
• Presentation of the material
• Evaluation

Structural Approach

This approach is based on creation,analysis and systematic application of structures.This approach contains some steps with behavior at each step. In this approach we can divide it two approach;

• Think pair and share

This method is applied by the step stated below;

• Asking a question
• Giving students time to discuss alone
• Pair students in group to talk about each other
• ask responses from some or all of the pairs or small groups
• Numbered head together

In this approach , students are numbered and then asks question then put the head together. when the teacher as a number student havig that number give a answer to the question asked.

There are five steps in planing;

• Choose a Content
• Choose an Approach
• Form Students Team
• Develop Materials
• Plan for Orienting Students to Tasks and Roles
• Plan for Use of Time and Space

Form Student Team

How to form the groups might be differed in accord with the teachers' goals, the racial and ethnic mixtures and ability levels of the students.

The teachers might decide to form the student teams with respect to;

• Racially and ethnically mixed to provide peer interaction to group members,
• Achievement levels of the students,
• Students’ interests in particular subtopics,
• Introverting and extroverting together,

Develop Materials

Although teachers provide verbal information to students in a cooperative learning lesson, this knowledge is accompanied by text, study guide or online sources.

• If the material is text-based, it is important that text is both interesting and appropriate reading level for the target group students.
• If teachers develop study guides, these should be designed to highlight the content deemed most important.
• If the students should collect data from online sources, it is important teach them how to examine and evaluate particular web-sites and internet information.

Plan for Orienting Students to Tasks and Roles

The way learning tasks and rewards are structured influences the quality of students learning and interaction in cooperative learning groups.

The students should have a clear understanding about their roles and the teacher’s expectations for them as they participate in the cooperative learning lesson.

Plan for Use of Time and Space

Cooperative learning requires a special attention to the use of classroom space, along with movable furniture. The cluster seating and swing seating arrangements are two ways experienced teachers use space during cooperative learning.

• Cluster Seating Arrangement – Seating clusters of four or six are useful for cooperative learning and other small group tasks.

• Swing Seating Arrangement – developed by Lynn Newsome. For cooperative learning, she uses a flexible seating arrangement that allows her to “swing” from a direct instruction lesson to a cooperative learning lesson.

Group Investigation

Experiential Learning

• The experiences contribute the understanding and internalizing of techniques which are difficult to define.
• Johnson says that knowledge is discovered by yourself if it is to mean anything to you or make a difference in your behavior.
• Berninger and Richards says that to be long term learning, one should be in an action or experiment.

Intergroup Relations

• Students are working in small groups to reach achievement both an academic and social goal.
• It is reflecting on the learning procedure, discoursing ideas, having self-confidence and advocating a social atmosphere.

5 Key Elements of

Cooperative Learning are ;

• Positive Interdependence
• Individual Accountability
• Face to Face Interaction
• Social Skills Group
• Processing

Concept Of Democratic Classroom

• Dewey brought the ideas of democracy and social reform. (1916)
• Dewey states school is not only a place to gain content knowledge, but also an area to learn how to live.
• Dewey says that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social innovation or reform.