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Having your students engage in cooperative and collaborative
learning within the classroom will lay a foundation for your
students in understanding the dynamics of participating in a collaborative
project.
1. How does cooperative and collaborative
learning impact student achievement?
More than 70 major studies by federally sponsored (US Department
of Education, 1992) research centers, field-initiated investigations,
and local districts examining their own practices have demonstrated
cooperative and collaborative learning's effectiveness on a range
of outcomes:
- 1. Positive Growth in Student Achievement:
- When two necessary key elements--group goals and individual
accountability--are used together, the effects on achievement
are consistently positive.
- 2. Improved Relations among Different Ethnic Groups:
- One of the earliest and strongest findings shows that students
who cooperate with each other like each other.
- 3. Mainstreaming Students with Learning Disabilities:
- Significant improvements in relationships occur between these
students and other children in their class when these learning
strategies are used.
2. What is the difference between
cooperative and collaborative learning?
There is a fine-line that separates cooperative and collaborative
learning. Here are just a few
| Cooperative Learning |
Collaborative Learning |
- Definition:
- Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy
in which small teams, each with students of different levels
of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve
their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team
is responsible not only for learning what is taught but
also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere
of achievement. (U.S. Dept. of Ed. Office of Research, 1992)
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- Definition:
- "Collaborative learning is based on the idea that
learning is a naturally social act in which the participants
talk among themselves (Gerlach, 1994). It is through the
talk that learning occurs."
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| each person is responsible for a portion of the
work |
participants work together to solve a problem |
| many times the teacher already knows the problem
and solution students will be working towards |
many times teacher does not have a pre-set notion
of the problem or solution that students will be researching |
| Resource Links:
U.S.
Dept of Ed: Cooperative Learning
U
of Tennessee: Cooperative Learning
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Resource Links:
Collaborative
Learning: small group learning page
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| Using the links above:
Explore the above links for further tips and activity ideas.
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Using the link above:
Explore the above links for further tips and activity ideas.
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3. Clearly Establish Cooperative
Learning Guidelines
Introducing and posting visible signs that define cooperative
learning guidelines for your class will help your students
remember what they should be practicing when they are working
in cooperative or collaborative groups.
If you see that students are not keeping on task or including
everyone, rather than telling groups what they are doing wrong,
challenge your students to identify which rules they are not following.
This will challenge your class to identify your rules for group
participation, analyze which ones they are not implementing, and
challenge them to share and problem-solve how they should adjust
their activity to meet these rules.
Here is a suggested list of group participation rules
used by a fifth grade teacher. She used the acronymn KISSES and
displayed each rule on a separate poster board:
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Amy Norton, Rome City Elementary
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Group Participation Rules
Keep with the Group
Include Everyone
Share ideas and Feelings
Stay on Task
Encourage Others
Six Inch Voices |
4. Create a JigSaw Classroom
| Visit:
JigSaw Classroom
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This is a cooperative learning technique
that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes
better learning, improves student motivation, and increases
enjoyment of the learning experience. The jigsaw technique was
first developed in the early 1970s by Elliot Aronson and his
students at the University of Texas and the University of California.
Since then, hundreds of schools have used the jigsaw classroom
with great success. The web site was funded by a grant from
the National Science Foundation, and it contains free resources,
tips, links, and information on cooperative learning. |
Resources
- Cooperative Learning. U.S. Dept. of Ed. Office of Research.
1992.
- http://www.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/cooplear.html
(05 December 2003).
- Collaborative
Learning: Small Group Learning Page.
- Wisconsin Center for Education Research (05 December 2003).
- Gerlach, J. M. (1994). "Is this collaboration?"
- In Bosworth, K. and Hamilton, S. J. (Eds.), Collaborative
Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques, New
Directions for Teaching and Learning No. 59.
- Panitz, Ted. A Definition of Collaborative vs Cooperative
Learning. 1996.
- http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/collab.learning/panitz2.html
(05 December 2003).
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