A Puzzle is Not Complete Without Every Piece

Throughout my experience as an undergraduate student studying education, I had not been taught about a cooperative lesson until Dr. Smirnova’s class. When I first heard of a cooperative learning lesson, I thought students would be following directions while working on an assignment to learn information. In a way I was correct, while I was also incorrect. Being provided with the cooperative learning lesson plan template, I was clarified on my thinking and learned the correct approach to display to my classmates with a partner through a PowerPoint presentation.

            I learned that the students are not learning new material. The pre-assessment is where the teacher reviews the information the students are already supposed to know, the prior knowledge. The material is taught during direct instruction. I think that questioning would be a great way to pre-assess knowledge quickly when most of the lesson should be focused on group work. Other ways to pre-assess students can be a pre-test, a checklist, or even self-evaluation.

            My thoughts were correct about following directions on an assignment, but I was able to understand this more in depth. I learned that the students are following directions, but this happens both together and individually. The students’ work in groups and each student has an individual role to get the task accomplished. I think individual accountability in a group setting is very important. Students need to learn what it is like to have a responsibility to undertake and that how they perform will effect their classmates as well as a task from being completed on time or not. This is also reflecting the idea of positive interdependence when students depend on one another.

This picture shows how every person has a specific task and that everyone’s work put together makes the task is complete.    

This image is an example of what four different roles could be in a group of four students when doing a cooperative learning project. It is important to make sure the students understand that the role assigned to them does not mean they cannot help their classmates with a different role.

           

            Before I learned about cooperative learning, I thought group evaluations only were given to high school students to fill out. I honestly did not think elementary students filled out forms about how both they worked and their peers worked together. Reading further into group processing, I completely agree with the approach for all students. According to Johnson (2006), “Each student in the group gives and receives positive feedback on their contribution to the group.” The students should not only offer and gather feedback on what is to be improved. This is because the students will not want to change if they feel they did not perform anything well from all the, what seems to be, negative feedback.  I feel reflection time should be given in order for the students to think about the advice they have received and how they will try to use it next time they are working in a group setting. I really like another point Johnson included of having the groups come up with improvement goals for the next time they work together. Johnson (2006) stated, “Individuals can pick a particular social skill to use more effectively. Groups can decide on a collaborative skill to work on next time.” Some specific social skills students could work on are complimenting others, listening actively, participating equally, sharing materials, communicating clearly, etc. Collaborative skills to improve include taking turns, working effectively together, communicating their information and conclusions, and more. Having these discussions allows for the students to understand that improvements are always to be made. The more the students pinpoint what specifically they need to focus on, the better their group will achieve each time during cooperative learning tasks.

I certainly cleared up a lot of confusion I had about cooperative learning and gained my own perceptions that I hope you find useful!

~Christine Brown

Works Cited:

Johnson. (2010, February 3). Group Processing. Starting Point, Teaching Entry Level Geoscience. Retrieved from http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/group-processing.html