Co-operative Learning

1. Co-operative Learning Strategies and Application

2. Warming up exercise • Form yourselves into groups of 4. • Number yourselves as 1, 2, 3, 4. • Think and write down: ( 3 minutes ) • Your name in the middle of the label. • One thing about your family at the top right corner. • One thing about your school at the bottom right corner. • One book you have read at the top left corner. • What you like to do at the weekend at the bottom left corner.

3. Warming up exercise continued • Share what you have just written with the group members (Roundrobin). e.g. • 1 shares • 2 shares • 3 shares • 4 shares Time allowed :(5 minutes)

4. What is Co-operative Learning? Cooperative Learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. (Johnson & Johnson , 1989 )

5. Why use CL? • Raise the achievement of all students, including those who are gifted or academically handicapped • Help the teacher build positive relationships among students • Replace the competitive organizational structure of most classrooms and schools with a team-based, high-performance organizational structure. (Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec 1994:2)

6. Benefits of using CL in language teaching • A learner-centred approach which is better than a teacher-fronted classroom method because it aims to : • provide opportunities for naturalistic second language acquisition through the interactive pair and group activities • provide learners opportunities to develop successful learning and communication strategies • enhance learners motivation and reduce stress when a positive affective classroom climate is created (Jack Richards)

7. Group work problem Task(Think - Pair - Share) • Think about the problems you experienced when you have used group work before. ( 2 min) • Pair up with a partner ( 1 & 2; 3 & 4 ) and share your ideas. ( 5 min ) • Prepare to share your partner’s ideas with the whole class. ( 8 min )

8. Bad group work experience • A group argues, has divisive conflicts and power struggles… • A member sits quietly, too shy to participate… • One member does all the work, while the others talk about sports… • No one does the work • A more talented member may come up with all the answers, dictate to the group, or work separately, ignoring other group members…

9. Effective cooperation • Does not occur by chance • Occurs when the essential components structured within each cooperative lesson are ensured • Cannot be based on the assumption that all students possess appropriate social and learning skills

10. Cooperative learning strategies are the answers to your needs!

11. Basic elements of CL Task ( Simple Jigsaw ) • Each person reads his/her own article. ( 10 min) • Shares with the whole group what he/she understands. (10 min )

12. Basic elements in CL • Positive interdependence • Individual accountability • Face to face interaction • Social skills • Group processing

13. I. Positive interdependence • We sink or swim together

14. Devise a group goal in which all members must master the material (learning goal interdependence) Randomly choose a worksheet, report or composition from 1 member for group grade (grade interdependence) Each group member receives same reward (reward interdependence) Limit resources (resource interdependence) Assign roles (role interdependence) Ways to establish positive interdependence

15. Recorder Observer Reporter Encourager Checker Facilitator English monitor Time-keeper Praiser Cheerleader Reflector Quiet Captain Materials Monitor Assigning roles in a group

16. II. Individual accountability • Everyone must know • e.g. assign each student a grade on his or her portion of a team project • e.g. call on a student at random to share with the whole class/with another group

17. III. Face to face interactions • e.g. • Oral summarization • Students give and receive explanations • Students elaborate

18. IV. Social skills • e.g. • Teach communication, leadership, trust, decision making, and conflict management skills to students • Provide motivation to use these skills in order for groups to function effectively

19. Taking turns Praising (no put downs) Sharing materials Asking for help Using quiet voices Participating equally Staying on task Using names Encouraging others Patient waiting Communicating clearly Accepting differences Active listening Resolving conflicts Paraphrasing Sharing ideas Recording ideas Celebrating success Examples for social skills

20. Language for social skills I like the way you … Terrific! I knew you could do it! Good job!.

21. V. Group processing • E.g. • Give students the time to analyze how well they functioned as a group. • Have student analyze how well they are using social skills. • Use group processing to help all group members achieve while maintaining effective working relationships among members. • An example of group processing form

22. BREAK

23. Some commonly used CL structuresRoundrobin • Student 1 shares his/her ideas. • Student 2 shares his/her ideas. • Student 3 shares his/her ideas. • Student 4 shares his/her ideas.

24. Some commonly used CL structuresThink-Pair-Square • Students take a short period of time to think about a question. • Share ideas with a partner. • Share ideas with other team members.

25. Some commonly used CL structuresThink-Pair-Share • Students take a short period of time to think about a question. • Share ideas with a partner. • Share ideas with the whole class.

26. Some commonly used CL structuresNumbered Heads • Each member has a number. • Teacher gives a task. • Members put their heads together to think about the answer. • One number is called to answer for the whole group.

27. Some commonly used CL structuresAssigning roles • English monitor • Time-keeper • Secretary • Reporter • Script writer

28. Some commonly used CL structuresThree-Step-Interview Step one • Student A interviews Student B. • Student C interviews Student D. Step two • Student B interviews Student A. • Student D interviews Student B. Step threeStudent takes turn to introduce their pair partners and share what their partner said.

29. Jigsaw Group 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 Rejoin home groups 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 home groups, with 4 members each 4 new expertgroups, with one representative from each home group (Aronson et al. 1978. The Jigsaw Classroom. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.)

30. (Student Teams –Achievement Divisions) STAD

32. Some commonly used CL structuresStudent Teams Achievement Division (STAD) • Students receive information from teacher • Students complete a worksheet with the help of the whole group • Teacher individually quizzes team members • Each student will gain improvement scores if their test scores are better than their base scores • Team may earn rewards if their average scores exceed a certain criterion.

33. Assigning Students Into Teams

34. Determining the base scores • Use the average marks of the past tests as base scores.

35. Improvement points • If individual student performs better than last time, he can earn improvement points for his team.

36. Calculating improvement points

37. Quiz score example

38. Team scores • Add all individual’s improvement points and find the average improvement marks of the team. • Team Summary sheet example

39. Team recognition

40. STAD • Teach • Team Study • Individual Quiz • Improvement points • Team Recognition

41. Application of CL in English lessons The Jockey Club Eduyoung College Miss Amos Chan

42. Group Processing • Name one thing your group has done well. • Name one thing your group should improve. • ( 5 min )

43. Concerns • Spending all this time on group exercises will prevent me from getting through the syllabus. • Effective group work requires little in-class time • Pose questions to small groups • Successful teaching is more than covering the syllabus. What matters is how much was actually learned. • Handouts can supplement lectures

44. Concerns • What about students who want to get credit without actively participating in the work? • Always a danger • Include provisions to ensure individual accountability • Call randomly on individuals • Peer evaluations

45. Concerns • What if students resent the approach? • Prepare students for it from the beginning • Explain why you are doing it • Better grades • Teaching to others aids understanding • Professional training

46. What’s the difference? Cooperative Group Traditional Group Positive interdependence No interdependence Individual accountability No individual accountability Heterogeneous membership Homogeneous membership Shared leadership One appointed leader Responsible to each other Responsibly only for self Task & maintenance emphasized Only task emphasized Social skills directly taught Skills assumed or ignored Teacher observes & intervenes Teacher ignores groups Group processing occurs No group processing Mutual assistance Competitive

47. How to form groups?SIZE • The smallest group is 2. The largest recommended is 6. • In smaller groups, members participates more and group can work more quickly. • Larger groups generate more ideas, deal better with complex ideas, and create fewer group reports to process. • It’s hard to get left out of a pair; triads tend to surface issues and are good for process observing; teams of four allow multiple ways to pair.

48. How to form groups?FORMATION • Student self selection groups generally are not successful. • Heterogeneous groups with regard to academic achievement, gender, ethnicity, ability and learning style are better • Heterogeneous groups promote more elaborate thinking and explanations and provide students with opportunities to develop feelings of mutual concern. • Random assigned groups are best used if the taskis of short duration.

49. How to form groups?DURATION • Groups should remain together long enough to feel successful • Groups stay together for longer periods (4-6 weeks) form stronger bonds, develop more collaborative skills, and can tackle more complex tasks.

50. Setting Ground Rules for the group Come to class on time every day Come to class having done the assignment and prepared to discuss it Must notify members of the group ahead of time if must miss class for any reason Be willing to share information Respect the views, values, and ideas of other members of the group If members of the group violate these ground rules, other members of the group may impose some agreed consequences.