Most of the paper discusses observations at the Lincoln Elementary School, which had implemented "Success for All" and "Roots and Wings" programs, which had improved student outcomes with cooperative learning activities. In a younger group they have a reader-listener activity where one student reads while the other listens, correcting errors and helping with difficult words. They then work on sheets where one acts as the teacher while the other is the learner. For older students, readings is in groups of four where one student reads a story and they then work together to find elements of the story and review the book. It describes a maths activity (science really) in which students measure, in groups of four, the distance travelled by cars after they have rolled down a ramp. They then analyse the data on their own (this is year 4 though, so nothing big) and then compare and discuss within the group. I see what the activity is like, but it doesn't sit as a cooperative learning activity to myself. In other maths situations, the whole class is given instruction, but they work on problems as a group. They use open ended, group based rich tasks for a combined SOSE-Science class. Strong parental involvement to continue education at home (mostly reading). It concludes by saying the programs show that a "comprehensive approach can be developed, evaluated, and disseminated to make the promise of cooperative learning a reality for very large numbers of children" (p. 79).
Some notes regarding cooperative learning:
- High awareness in education, however numbers probably overstate amount of sustained use.
- A study showed 81% using cooperative learning daily, but only 24% used individual accountability linked to group goals.
- Requires group goals with individual accountability, without this one child may do the work, or do all the thinking with other taking clerical roles, or students may be left out.
- here exist a problem between using cooperative learning and linking with curriculum goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment