Author: Academic Computing

Chapter 3 Overview: Cooperative Learning

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Classroom Instruction & Management
by Richard Arends
From page 124-153

Brought to you by: Jenn, Jerad, Lynn, Matt, Rob C, Seth & Stacee

Overview of Cooperative Learning, Approaches

Inside Chapter 3

Overview of / Cooperative Learning	110
Theoretical & / Empirical Support	114
Conducting Cooperative Learning Lessons	119
Learning Environment & Management Tasks and Management	131
Assessment & / Evaluation	139

Most cooperative Learning Lessons can be characterized by the following features:
Students work cooperatively in teams to master academic materials.
Teams are made up of students with all levels of achievement.
Whenever possible, teams include a racial, cultural, and sexual mix of students.
Reward systems are group oriented rather than individually oriented.
Approaches to Cooperative Learning:
Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD)
Jigsaw
Group Investigation (GI)
Structural Approach
Think-Pair-Share
Numbered Heads Together

Theoretical and Empirical Support for Cooperative Learning

Help Transitions go Smoothly:
1)Write key steps on the board.
2)State directions clearly.
3)Ask students to paraphrase the directions.
4) Designate parts of the room where you want students to occupy (where you can see them).

In 1916, John Dewey’s Democracy and Education set forth a concept of teachers’ primary responsibility being to motivate students to work cooperatively and to consider the important social problems of the day.
In the 1950s, Herbert Thelan argued that the classroom should be a laboratory or miniature democracy with the purpose for students to inquire into important social and interpersonal problems. Both theorists viewed cooperative behavior and processes as an indispensable part of human endeavor, the foundation on which strong democratic communities could be built and maintained.
After the Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in 1954, sociologist Gordon Allport argued that unmediated, interethnic contact occurring under conditions of equal status was needed to reduce racial and ethnic prejudice.
Cooperative learning is also heavily influenced by the concept of experiential learning. In the works of Johnson and Johnson (1994): you learn best when you are personally involved in the learning experience, knowledge has to be discovered by yourself if it is to mean anything to you or make a difference in your behavior, and a commitment to learning is highest when you are free to set your own learning goals and actively pursue them.

Approaches to Cooperative Learning

Page #

STAD Jigsaw Group Investigation Structural Approach

Cognitive Goals
Social Goals
Team Structure
Lesson Topic
Selection
Primary Task
Assessment
Recognition

Simple academic information
Group work and cooperation
4-5 member heterogeneous learning teams
Usually teacher
Students may use work sheets and help each other master learning materials
Weekly tests
Newsletter and other publicity
Simple academic information

Simple academic information
Group work and cooperation.
5-6 member heterogeneous learning teams — use of home and expert teams
Usually Teacher
Students investigate materials in expert groups — help members of home group learn materials.
Varies — can be weekly tests
Newsletter and other publicity
Simple academic information

Complex academic information and inquiry skills
Cooperation in complex groups.
5-6 member learning groups — may be homogenous
Usually students
Students complete complex inquires.
Completed projects and reports — can use essay tests.
Written and oral presentations.
Simple academic information

Simple academic information
Group work and cooperation
Varies — pairs, trios, 4-6 member groups
Usually teacher
Students do assigned tasks — social and cognitive
Varies
Varies

Other Approaches: Think-Pair-Share & Numbered Heads Together

Think-pair-share (very self-explanatory):
Step 1: Thinking. The teacher poses a question or issue associated with the lesson and asks students to spend a minute thinking alone about the answer or the issue.
Step 2: Pairing. Next the teacher asks students to pair off and discuss what they have been thinking about. This usually lasts for 4 or 5 minutes.
Step 3: Sharing. In the final step, the teacher asks the pairs to share with the whole class what they have been talking about. It is effective to simply go around the room from pair to pair.
Number Heads Together.
Step 1: Numbering. Teachers divide students into three to five member teams and have them number off so each student on a team has a number between one and five.
Step 2: Questioning. Teacher asks students a question.

Questions can vary, or be directives. “Make sure everyone knows the capitals of the five states that border the Pacific Ocean,” for example.
Step 3: Heads Together. Students put their heads together to figure out and make sure everyone knows the answer.
Step 4: The teacher calls a number and students with that number provide answers.

Classroom Instruction & Management by Richard Arends
From page 124