Transcript Cooperative Learning

Cooperative Learning
Richard M. Felder
Rebecca Brent
www.ncsu.edu/felder-public
Exercise
4-person project teams
• Students self-select teams
• One assignment handed in per team, all
members get same grade
What problems are likely to occur?
The best answer to the question,
“What is the most effective
method of teaching?” is that it
depends on the goal, the student,
the content, and the teacher. But
the next best answer is, “Students
teaching other students.”
(Wilbert McKeachie)
Overview
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What is cooperative learning?
Formal CL activities
Benefits
Implementation tips
Cooperative Learning
Students work in
groups on structured
learning tasks under
conditions that meet
five criteria:
CL Criteria
Regular self-assessment
of group functioning
Face-to-face
interaction
Positive
interdependence
Appropriate use of
interpersonal skills
Individual
accountability
Overview
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What is cooperative learning?
Formal CL activities
Benefits
Implementation tips
Team Homework
• Assignments done by teams
• Only names of participants on final product
• One grade per team, adjusted for individual
performance
• For problem sets, solutions outlined
individually, completed by team.
Option: Individual outlines and group solution
turned in
Team Projects
• Project (design, class presentation) done
by teams
• Specialized training provided for
individuals (Jigsaw)
• One grade per team, adjusted for
individual performance
JIGSAW (For projects with clearly
identifiable subtasks)
• Form home teams.
• Form expert groups, provide specialized
training
• Regroup in home teams, complete
assignment
Peer Feedback
• Individuals or project teams help each
other
– brainstorming ideas
– critiquing first drafts
– proofreading final product
• Collect and grade critiques to help
students improve critical thinking skills
Structured Controversy
• Topic with welldocumented positions and
complexity (ethical, safety,
environmental issues)
• Structured debate in pairs
or groups of 4
Overview

What is cooperative learning?
 Formal CL activities
 Benefits
 Implementation tips
Exercise
Thousands of research studies have
shown that CL, properly implemented,
offers a number of benefits to students &
instructors.
Speculate on what the benefits are.
CL Benefits
Improved

student-faculty and student-student
interaction
 information retention and grades
 higher-level thinking skills
 attitudes toward subject, motivation to
learn it
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teamwork, interpersonal skills
communication skills
understanding of professional environment
self-esteem, level of anxiety (less emphasis
on competition)
race, gender relations (maybe)
PLUS,
far fewer (and
better) papers to grade
STEM Meta-Analysis
• Analysis of published studies of college-level
small-group learning in science, technology,
engineering, & mathematics
• Criteria: Students working in groups, rigorous
analysis of achievement, retention, and
attitudes. Found 39 studies that qualified.
• Metric--standardized mean difference (d
index)
• Achievement: Small groups produced greater
achievement (d=0.51)--sufficient to move a
student from 50th to 70th percentile on a
standardized test
50
70
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Retention: Small groups resulted in greater
retention (d=0.46)--sufficient to reduce attrition
from STEM programs and courses by 22%
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Attitudes: Small groups led to more favorable
attitudes (d=0.55)--far exceeding average effect
of educational interventions on affective
outcomes measures
Why It Works
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Active/interactive learning.
Individuals get stuck, give up. Groups keep
going.
Students see & learn alternative strategies.
More and better questions in class.
Cognitive rehearsal: Students, like
professors, learn best what they teach.
Overview

What is cooperative learning?
 Formal CL activities
 Benefits
 Implementation tips
Forming CL Teams
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3-4 person teams for most applications
 Form formal CL teams yourself. Criteria:
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Mixed ability levels (measure by grades in
prerequisite courses, grade-point average, or
grades on early quiz)
Common blocks of time to meet outside class
Early in the curriculum, don’t let at risk
underrepresented populations (e.g. women in
engineering) be outnumbered in groups.
(Optional) Common interests
• To get ability heterogeneity within each team:
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Option 1: Form groups using grades in
pre-requisite courses or on college
entrance examinations. (First-day survey)
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Option 2: Form practice groups randomly.
After first test (2-3 weeks), re-form groups
using test results.
First-day survey. Ask students for
- Gender (optional)
- Ethnicity (optional)
- Grades in selected courses
- Times not available during week for group
work
Form groups following given guidelines based
on survey responses.
 (Option for homework teams) Re-form teams
once during the course except for semesterlong projects. (Reason: Give members of
seriously dysfunctional teams a second
chance.) A team can stay together only if
they all want to.
 (Option for project teams) Announce project
topics, use lottery system to let students sign
up for preferred topics.
 Note: Self-selected teams are better than no
teams at all.
Exercise
• In pairs, complete the chart on E-7.
For each method on the left, mark the
criteria addressed with as many X’s as
apply.
• More information about the methods is
given on pp. E-8 and E-9.
Promote positive interdependence
• Assign different roles (coordinator, checker,
recorder, monitor,...) and rotate roles.
• Use Jigsaw
• Give bonus on test (3-5 points) to groups in
which the team average is (say) 80 or higher.
Require individual accountability
• Use primarily individual testing.
• Call randomly on team members
to
present or explain results
• Collect peer ratings of team citizenship,
factor into project grades.
• Provide last resort options of firing and
quitting.
Promoting teamwork
skill development
 Have teams establish expectations of one
another in writing soon after they form.
Remind them later of what they agreed to do
and not do.
 Address other defining elements of cooperative
learning (positive interdependence, individual
accountability, self-assessment) in CL
exercises
 Hold brief (10 min) crisis clinics in class to equip
students with strategies to deal with common
problems
– Raise the problem (hitchhiker, dominant team
member,...)
– Small groups brainstorm possible team
responses. Instructor lists responses on board,
adds others if desired.
– Groups select (a) best first response, (b) best
second response if first response fails, (c) best last
resort response. Instructor collects, lists.
Teams leave class armed with good
strategies; problem students are on notice that
their behavior will have consequences.
Crisis Clinic
A team member has chronically shown up for
work sessions late, unprepared, or not at all.
• What might the other team members do?
(Brainstorm!)
• List the best (a) first step, (b) step to take if
the first step fails, (c) last-resort option
Student resistance
• Normal when students are given
unfamiliar things to do, asked to take
more responsibility for their learning
• Minimize by helping them understand
why you’re doing it (real world, research
base)
• Do midterm evaluation
• Don’t worry too much if a few students
remain opposed or one or two groups
don’t work well
Celebrate Success