Cooperative Learning

1. Cooperative Learning Trudie Hughes

2. Definition of Cooperative Learning • An instructional arrangement in which small groups or teams of students work together to achieve team success in a manner that promotes the students’ responsibility for their own learning as well as the learning of others (Mercer & Mercer, 2001).

3. Description of Cooperative Learning • Provides students with an opportunity to practice skills or learn content presented by the teacher. • Emphasizes team goals, and team success only if each individual learns. • Conducive for creating successful inclusive experiences with students with disabilities.

4. Student Learning Teams (SLT) (Slavin, 1991) Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) (Slavin, 1978, 1986) Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT) (DeVries & Slavin, 1978; Slavin, 1986) Full Option Science System (FOSS) (Britannica, 1991) Methods of Cooperative Learning

5. Student Learning Teams (SLT) Team goals are achieved when each member achieves selected academic objectives. Emphasizes: team reward, individual accountability, and equal opportunities for success. Team rewards are earned when a team achieves at or above a predetermined criterion level.

6. Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) • Heterogeneous group of four students are assigned to a team. • Students work together to ensure all students have mastered the lesson after initial teacher led instruction. • Students take individual quizzes without peer assistance. • Quiz scores are compared to past averages, points are awarded based on progress from past performance.

7. STAD Format • Teach: Present Lesson • Team Study: Students work on worksheets in their teams to master the material • Tests: Students take individual quizzes or other assessments • Team Recognition: Team scores are computed on the basis of team members’ scores, and certificates, a class newsletter, or a bulletin board recognizes high-scoring teams

8. Teams-Games-Tournament • Same procedures as STAD on initial instruction and heterogeneous groups. • Quizzes are replaced with weekly tournaments. • Students can compete with players from another team to earn points. • Students compete at three-member tournament tables with others who have similar skill levels on target skills.

9. Jigsaw • Students are assigned to 6 member team • Academic material has been broken down into sections • Each team member reads his/her section of the material • Members of different teams who have studied the same sections meet in expert groups to discuss their sections. • Students return to their teams and take turns teaching their teammates about their sections

10. Jigsaw II • Students work in 4-5 member teams • All students read the same common text, such as a book chapter • Each student receives a topic on which to become an expert • Students with the same topics meet in expert groups to discuss • Students return to their teams to teach what they have learned to their teammates • Students take individual quizzes, which result in a team score

11. Reader Recorder Getter Starter Full Option Science System (FOSS) • Four students work together and take turns with different roles to complete a particular science activity.

12. Reader • Reads all print instructions. • Ensures that all students in the group understand the task. • Summarizes the activity for the group.

13. Recorder • Records all data: observations, predictions, and estimations. • Uses chart and graph paper.

14. Getter • Responsible for getting all materials and returning all materials after activity is completed.

15. Starter • Begins the manipulations of the materials. • Supervises the assembly of materials. • Ensures that all group members participate.

16. Classwide Peer Tutoring • Whole class activity which emphasizes reciprocal tutoring, frequent opportunities to respond, and immediate feedback.

17. Peer Tutoring • Classwide Peer Tutoring – Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (Delquadri, Greenwood, Whorton, Carta, & Hall, 1986). • Peer Assisted Learning Strategies – George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (Fuchs, Mathes, & Fuchs, 1993).

18. Types of Peer Tutoring • Cross-age tutoring: the tutor is several years older than the student being taught • Same-age tutoring: student tutors a classmate

19. Juniper Gardens Project (JGP) • Designed to help students with mild disabilities improve their basic skills. • Integrated behavior management and direct instruction procedure. • Based on reciprocal peer tutoring and group-oriented reinforcement contingencies.

20. JGP Cont. • Peers are used to supervise responding and practice. • Game format is used that includes points and competing teams. • Weekly evaluation plan ensures gains in individual and class progress.

21. JGP Features • Each student tutors for 10 minutes and then receives 10 minutes of tutoring. • Systematic procedures for dividing class into two heterogeneous teams. • During sessions, the teacher monitors student’s behavior and awards points for good tutoring behavior. • Individual and team points are displayed. • On Friday the teacher conducts a more intensive assessment of each student’s progress.

22. Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) • Incorporates strategy-based reading practice. • Partner reading: students take turns reading aloud, correcting errors, and retelling what they read. • Paragraph shrinking: students take turns reading paragraph aloud, correcting errors, and stating main idea.

23. PALS Cont. • Prediction relay: students take turns predicting what happens next, reading the next passage aloud, correcting errors, verifying predictions, summarizing the text, and making more predictions.