The Department of Agricultural Education
The University of Arizona
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The Department of Agricultural Education
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Introduction Brief Overview In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups to achieve a common goal. Having students work in groups is not a new concept in education. Over the years however, group work has been plagued with the problem of one or two students doing all the work while everyone: got the credit. The greater concern, however, was the question of how much, if anything, the nonworking members of a group learned. Typically, what has been missing in group work is a structure that involves all students in the work and ensures that each student learns the material. Cooperative learning provides a structure for group work based on three elements:
By integrating these elements into their lessons, teachers have found that group work leads to higher achievement by all students and provides additional benefits for students--increased self-esteem, greater motivation to learn, and an increased acceptance and respect for other students. Many teachers report that cooperative learning has revitalized their classrooms, rekindling the joy of learning and the joy of teaching. Cooperative learning is not a quick-fix panacea that teachers can learn to use in a few hours. Teachers need time to refine the techniques, and students need rime to develop the cooperative skills that make group work most effective. Bur school districts that have given teachers time and support have found the benefits of cooperative learning well worth the effort. The series has three main goals:
Preparing for the Workshops The materials in this manual are designed to help the facilitator prepare and lead workshops built around Programs 1 through 4 in the Cooperative learning series. Depending on the time available, the workshop for each program may be scheduled over several short sessions or for one longer session. If the workshop is to be completed in one session, allow the following approximate times for each program: Program 1—2 ½ hours Program 2—4 hours Program 3—4hours Program 4—4 ½ hours Program 5 in this series presents a complete cooperative learning lesson. This program many be shown after the workshops for Programs 1 through 4 or at any point where viewing a complete lesson would help participants plan and carry out their own lessons. By the end of the workshops for Programs 1 through 4 participants will be able to:
A staff developer, principal, central office administrator, or teacher can act as workshop facilitator. It is helpful if the facilitator has had some experience in cooperative learning. The facilitator should be well-organized, respected by the staff and able to communicate in a way that supports others’ growth. The facilitator has seven major responsibilities. 1. View all the video programs and become thoroughly familiar with their contents 2. Read this manual and the selected articles thoroughly 3. Arrange for a training site large enough to comfortably accommodate the number of participants and to allow for small-group interaction 4. Review the agenda and the activities before each workshop session 5. Arrange for the handouts (worksheets, information sheets, workshop agenda, program outline) and readings to be duplicated 6. Guide participants through each session’s activities-start and stop the video at specified intervals, lead participants in the activities, and direct and monitor the discussion 7. Arrange follow-up meetings so participants can talk about their experiences as they begin to use cooperative learning in the classroom. Before the workshops, distribute a notice describing all the sessions. Include topics, dates, times, and location. When scheduling the sessions, remember that during the program 2 session, participants will develop a plan for a lesson that they will teach before the session for Program 3. At the beginning of Program 3, participants will review how their lessons went. Remind them to bring their lesson plans to the Program 3 session for reference. Reserve the meeting room in advance; arrange it to facilitate video viewing and small-group activities. Also, obtain a videocassette recorder, chalkboard or easel, pads and pens: duplicate all handouts; arrange for refreshments; determine appropriate times for breaks; and write the session objectives on a chart or chalkboard.
Answers to Commonly Asked Questions Why use cooperative learning? Cooperative learning can promote higher achievement, increased self-esteem and improved attitudes toward peers, teachers, and school in general. Students who have been successful I cooperative learning groups tend to like the class and subject better. Cooperative learning can be effective across content areas and across grade levels Cooperative learning can teach students important social skills that will help them achieve success in their school and personal lives and later on, in the workplace. How does cooperative learning affect bright students? Bright student have been shown to benefit from cooperative learning, too. When students discuss the subject matter in their groups, they re-conceptualize the information and put into words their peers will understand. This cognitive process promotes higher-level thinking and reinforces learning. Also, bright students benefit from learning social skills. Besides helping them make and keep friends, social skills help students collaborate on committees, teams and research groups. These skills are important for success in adult life. In this "dog eat dog" world, shouldn’t we teach students to compete and be self-reliant? Students should know how to handle appropriate competition and to be self-reliant. Cooperation, competition, and individual work are all appropriate in the classroom. Even in our "dog eat dog" world, cooperation plays a key role in achieving success. In fact, cooperative efforts seem to promote the highest success, particularly in this age of information and high technology. In the operating room, on the factory floor, in the corporate boardroom and in all walks of life, teams of skilled individuals are seeing success through cooperation.
Why do all the elements of cooperative learning need to be in place? Positive interdependence, individual accountability, and social skills (which include a face-to-face interaction, social skills instruction and group processing) are basic elements that ensure the most effective group functioning. Positive interdependence provides students with the reason to cooperate. Individual accountability ensures that each student masters the materials. Social skills give students the opportunity to learn and practice the skills that enable them to interact successfully with their peers. Each time one of these elements is removed from the lesson, the likelihood that the groups will function effectively diminishes. I’ve tried cooperative learning. The groups just didn’t work well together. I don’t think cooperative learning groups really work. Once again, the elements of positive interdependence, individual accountability and social skills distinguish cooperative learning groups from students doing group work. When teachers complain that their cooperative learning groups do not work, the problem can typically be traced to the absence of one or more of these elements. By building in the missing elements and persevering, the problems can usually be overcome. Aren’t positive interdependence and individual accountability the same? These two elements are not the same. Positive interdependence (e.g., assigning students specific roles for interacting with one another, having them share one worksheet, or "jigsawing" reading material) gives students a reason to be interested in how well other students in their group are doing. With each students’ success tied to the success of others, they will begin to cooperate. Individual accountability, on the other hand, means that every student is held accountable for learning the material.
I’ve been teaching for years. Do I really need to write out all these lesson plans? Writing out exactly what to say to the students and rehearsing it with a colleague gives you several advantages. First, it allows you to plan out each step clearly and to determine the best sequence for delivering the information. Second, you have time to think of how to state complex points in language your students will understand. Third, you have a chance to brainstorm potential problems and plan for them. Fourth, by rehearsing with a colleague, you have the opportunity to practice and get feedback on your lesson delivery. Feedback allows you to modify and refine the lesson. This process increases the likelihood of success. When all the students are talking on their own, won’t the teacher lose control of the class? When students are in good cooperative groups, they tend to be more on task than off task. You will have less need to control them. You will have less need to control them. Group leadership is shared among the students in the cooperative learning group; each student becomes responsible for supporting the classroom rules and keeping the group on task. This reduces disciplinary problems and the teacher has more time to move about the classroom, helping students learn. The students are under control, and by monitoring their work and discussion, the teacher is in control of the learning. What social skills should I teach my students? When students come to school already having learned many social skills; other hace learned few. Observe your students to identify which skills they have and which they do not have. Rank those they do not have but will need and teach the one with highest priority first. Even after telling my students to "team up" and "cooperate" they just didn’t seem to get it. They were still rude and didn’t share. What needs to be done? When teaching social skills, you must be specific about the skill you want students to learn and use. For example, the word cooperate is too general. The directive contribute ideas is more specific. The skill needs to be defined by the phrases students should use and by the specific behaviors that should occur. These phrases and behaviors should be written down, posted in the classroom, and referred to over and over again.
My students use the social skills, but only artificially and only because I am watching them. I want them to be genuine. The first steps in mastering social skills are somewhat artificial. Students may be uncomfortable and even a little embarrassed to use the new skill. Performing the skill for the teacher’s benefit at least gives them an opportunity to try the skill and practice it. Once they have practiced a skill over and over, they will be more comfortable using it. Their behavior will soon become genuine. Over what period of time should students practice each social skill, and how many skills should I teach each year? Students should be given many opportunities to practice each skill throughout the year. Build a social skill into academic lessons, reteach it when necessary, and remind students to use the skill. Typically a teacher might work to have students master two or three skills a year. What should I do if some students simply do not get along with their group members? This problem often comes up in the first week or two of cooperative learning. Remember, a team is made up of the most unlikely combination possible. Students differ from one another in sex, ethnicity and academic performance level. The primary solution for this problem is time. Some students will be unhappy about their team assignments initially, but as soon as they realize that they will be working in those teams for a long time, and especially when they get their first team scores and realize that they really are a team and need to cooperate to be successful, they will find a way to get along. Therefore, do not allow students to change teams; what makes the teammates work on their problems is the recognition that they will be together for many weeks.
Some students, however, will need constant reminding that their task is to cooperate with their teammates. You must set a firm tone that cooperation with teammates is the appropriate behavior during team practice. No one should be forced to work with a team; individuals who refuse (which happens rarely) should be allowed to work alone until they are ready to join the team. But clearly let students know that putdowns, making fun of teammates, or refusing to help teammates is not an effective way for teams to be successful and is not acceptable to you. With the individual improvement score system used in STAD, some high-achieving students (and occasionally their parents) complain that it is not fair that they have to do so much better than their previous performance to get the same points as low-achieving students. The individual improvement score system is fair because to earn the maximum points, everyone has to show improvement in their performance. Improving by 10 points is just as hard for a low-performing student as it is for a high-performing student. Because a maximum of 30 points is possible, and because a perfect paper is always worth 30 points, no student with a low base score can earn a higher number of points than someone who gets the best possible quiz score. Although team points are based on improvement, grades are still determined in the usual way. Thus, high-performing students who stay in high performance will still get high grades. In TGT, students sometimes complain that some students had more chances than others to earn points because of their starting positions at the tournament table. This is a serious problem when some tables are getting 90-100 percent of the items correct and one extra turn may determine the winner. To create a totally fair competition, first be sure that the number of items is a multiple of the number of players (e.g. 30 items for 3 players). Thus, for any table where all items are answered correctly, players will have an equal chance to win. When you call tie to end the tournament, let any tables where everyone has not had an equal number of turns continue to play until everyone has had the same number of turns.
When I have new students in class, how should I assign them to a tournament table for TGT? Do not automatically assign new students to the bottom of the "bumping" scheme, where they would have a considerable advantage until they are bumped up to the proper table. Assign new students to tables on the basis of some test or past grade. In Jigsaw II, the expert groups do not always use their time effectively. The general solution is to provide more structure. Some teachers provide a set of discussion topics for expert groups and have the expert group leader call on students to contribute to each discussion. Or an aide, parent, or older student could act as discussion leader. Also, you may be able to stagger the schedule of expert groups so that you can work with each one. Most expert groups do not need this kind of help, but when students are either young or lack self-organization skills, some additional structure may be needed. When I’m using Jigsaw II, what modification can I make when a student is absent? Absenteeism is a special problem in Jigsaw II because every team needs an expert on every topic. To deal with serious absenteeism, make six-member teams and have students work on each of three topics in pairs; thus at least one student is likely to appear for each topic. Or make the readings short so that students can read, discuss their topics in their expert groups, report to their teams, and take their quizzes all in the same period. Also, you might reduce the number of topics to three, so at least three students are likely to be present to take the topics.
Workshop Agenda Program 1 Learning to Work Together 1. Activity: Warm Up 15 2. View entire program 3. Activity: Learning Structures 18 and Elements of Cooperative Learning 4. Activity: Next Step 28 Total video running time-- 20:43 Approximate workshop time (including video) 2 ½ hours Program Outline Program 1 Learning to Work Together 1. Elements of cooperative learning a. Positive interdependence-the success of the group depends on the efforts of all its members ("we’re all in this together") promotes a caring environment where students help one another learn b. Individual accountability—students are individually responsible for learning the material c. Social Skills—interpersonal and communication skills that promote successful group interaction 2. Benefits associated with cooperative learning a. higher achievement b. increased self-esteem c. greater enjoyment of school d. decreased absenteeism e. higher motivation to learn f. respect for students with different backgrounds and points of view Warm-Up Many people who come to see this introduction overview of cooperative learning do not know what it is, but others will have already begun to form ideas about cooperative learning. Some participants are probably considering whether they want to bring cooperative learning into their schools and what steps are needed to do so. To help them with this needs-clarification and decision making process, participants will generate a list of specific items they wish to have addressed. Note: Suggestions and action guidelines for the facilitator are in italic type to distinguish them from the narrative sentences that you can use to present the activity. We have representation from the community and from various fields in education today. Some of you are administrators, some teachers, some parents, some staff developers, school counselors and so on. Some of you may be using cooperative learning in your schools; others are just beginning to learn what cooperative learning is all about. For some of you, today may be your first exposure to cooperative learning. It would help to know how you rate your knowledge of cooperative learning. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being novice, 5 and 6 indicating you are dabbling with it in your school and sharing with colleagues, and 10 being on the expert track, where would you rank yourself? How many of you would indicate 7 to 10? (show a raise of hands) 5 to 6 (show a raise of hands? 1 to 4 (show a raise of hands) if you raised your hand for 5 to 6 or 7 to 10, you can serve as a resource for those of us in the room who are novices. Please feel free to share your experiences with others who are less experienced with cooperative learning. (identify participants’ objectives) Each of you comes with interests and questions that you hope to find responses to. We’ll write these interests and questions down so we can keep track of the responses as we go.
You may anticipate using cooperative learning in your school or district. Or you may want to know some specifics on how to modify your lessons to implement cooperative learning in your class. We will spend some time fiding out about these interests and questions. (ask participants to form groups of three) In your group, each of you will need to perform a specific role. Identify one person to be the recorder, one person to be the facilitator and third person to be the encourager. (wait while they decide on their roles) Your group task is to agree on one list of the important interest or questions the three of you have about cooperative learning. Then, you will identify three items on your list that your groups considers most important. If you are the facilitator your job is to ask your group questions so that the group generates a list of questions and issues and decides on the three most important items. If you are the recorder your job is to write down the ideas each time everyone agrees on them. If you are the encourager, your jog is to probe each member for their questions and interests to add to the list. We’ll take about five minutes to generate this list of questions. Move from group to group assisting the participants in completing the task and getting on the right track. Do not attempt to answer any of their questions about cooperative learning at this point, but encourage them to write their questions as specifically as possible. Depending on how quickly the groups work, take 5-10 minutes. If there is a large number of participants, have two groups combine at this point to share their lists. After they have shared, they may wish to refine or add to their own list. 1. The more specific your questions about cooperative learning, the more likely you will identify the information you need 2. Although this video series addresses many important aspects of cooperative learning, it cannot cover all there is to know. 3. When the video programs do not directly address your concern or question, we recommend that you read the Selected Articles and Additional Readings in the back of this manual. 1. What interest items and questions have you generated about cooperative learning?
2. What is cooperative learning? 3. How does it differ from competitive and individualized learning? 4. What does research say about student outcomes when they work in small groups?
Learning Structures and Elements of Cooperative Learning This introductory activity will provide an experiential awareness of the effects of structuring learning with different types of interdependence: competitive learning (negative interdependence), individualistic learning (no interdependence) and cooperative learning (positive interdependence). This activity also introduces participants to the elements of cooperative learning positive interdependence, individual accountability and social skills. The activity we will be working on for the next half-hour is a simulation exercise on the effects of structuring learning in three different ways. In this exercise, you will perform the role of students so that you can get the student perspective of the learning structures, and I will play the role of the teacher. As we work, remember your thoughts and reactions to each learning situation. We will discuss them at the end of the activity. Now move together with two other people so you form a group of three. Competitive Set-Up As the teacher, I will set up the activity like this: I want to find out who is smart in this class. I want to find out who can thin and who can do the best work. I will know you can think and do good work if you can solve codes. Turn to the Solve the Codes Worksheet on page 24. You have a set of six coded messages and the same six messages decoded. Your job is to break the code and identify the pattern so that you would be able to write a message with the code if you wanted.
Look at the other two people in your group. DO you think you can solve more codes than they can? I want to find out who can solve the most codes in each group. If you have any questions, raise your hand and ask me. Do not talk. You will be successful if you solve the most codes. Are you ready to begin? (before participants start working, move to the next setup) Individualistic Set-up I want to change this activity just a little. Instead, I want you to ignore the other two people in your group. Move your chair back from them a little. (Pause while they move) Now, what I would like you to do is to solve the codes and identify the patterns on your worksheet, but work at your own pace. Do not talk to or disturb your neighbors. Your neighbors may even have different codes to solve. It doesn’t matter what they are doing. If you have a question, raise your hand and wait quietly until I can help you. If you solve two codes, that’s good work; if you solve four codes, that’s great work; and if you solve five or more codes, that’s excellent. Are you ready to begin? (Before participants start working ,move onto the next step) Cooperative Set-up One more time, I’d like to change how you will work. Pull your charis together with the people you were with earlier. Move in close so that you are knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye. (Pause until they move) Now, you’re going to use only one persons’ worksheet. So two of you put your worksheets away. You need only one set of codes. (Pause while they put worksheets away) You have a serious job to do. You are now a team of three. Your job involves five things:
Be prepared to explain the code patterns and how your team discovered each one. If you have any questions, ask the other two people on your team. If no one on your team can answer the question, then all three of you should raise your hands, and I will be around to help you. If you solve 80 percent of the codes and identify the patterns correctly, that must be new genius level work! This time I want you to go to work and solve the codes I the way I have just outlined. Give the group 20 minutes to work on the codes. Circulate through the room to make sure each group is on task and that everyone is participating and contributing to the discussion and solution of the codes. From time to time, ask one person from a team to try to explain a solution to one of the codes (no help from other teammates) to make sure each person is learning the codes. If a team finishes quickly,, pair them up with another team that is having difficulty and ask them to compare their solutions. After 20 minutes, call time and ask various teams to explain a code pattern and how they discovered the solution. Refer to the Solve the Codes Answers on page 26.
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Copyright © 2000 Department of Agricultural Education. All rights reserved.
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