Active Learning Cooperative Base Groups David W. Johnson Roger T. Johnson Karl A. Smith

1. Active LearningCooperative Base GroupsDavid W. JohnsonRoger T. JohnsonKarl A. Smith

2. Roger and David Johnson are brothers who are managing to work cooperatively as faculty at the College of Education, University of Minnesota • How the students perceive and interact with one another is a neglected aspect of instruction. • Much training time is devoted to helping teachers arrange appropriate interactions between students.

3. Class Base Groups • In a cooperative learning situation, interaction is characterized by positive goal interdependence with individual accountability. • Positive goal interdependence requires acceptance by a group that they "sink or swim together."

4. Class Base Groups There is a difference between "having students work in a group" and structuring students to work cooperatively.

5. Class Base Groups • A group of students sitting at the same table doing their own work, but free to talk with each other as they work, is not structured to be a cooperative group as there is no positive interdependence. • (Perhaps it could be called individualistic learning with talking.)

6. Class Base Groups • There needs to be an accepted common goal on which the group will be rewarded for their efforts. • In the same way, a group of students who have been assigned to do a report where only one student cares and does all the work and the others go along for a free ride, is not a cooperative group.

7. Class Base Groups • A cooperative group has a sense of individual accountability that means that all students need to know the material. • Putting students into groups does not necessarily gain positive interdependence and/or individual accountability; • it has to be structured and managed by the teacher.

8. Class Base Groups • Common practice in schools today has teachers striving to separate students from one another and have them work on their own. • Teachers continually use phrases like, "Don’t look at each other’s papers!", "I want to see what you can do, not your neighbor!”

9. Class Base Groups • Having students work alone, competitively or individually, is the dominant interaction pattern among students in classrooms today. • The paradox is that the vast majority of the research comparing student-student interaction patterns indicates that students learn more effectively when they work cooperatively.

10. cooperative learning • Students achieve more in cooperative interaction than in competitive or individualistic interaction. • Students are more positive about school, subject areas, and teachers or professors when they are structured to work cooperatively. • Students are more positive about each other when they learn cooperatively than when they learn alone.

11. cooperative learning • Students are more effective interpersonally as a result of working cooperatively than when they work alone. • Students with cooperative experiences are more able to take the perspective of others, • are more positive about taking part in controversy, have better developed interaction skills, • and have a more positive expectation about working with others.

12. cooperative learning Definition: • What it IS! • What it IS NOT! • Based on theory and work of Johnson and Johnsonand Smith!

13. 3 ways students interact There are three basic ways students can interact with each other as they learn: • They can compete to see who is "best"; • They can work individually on their own toward a goal without paying attention to other students; • They can work cooperatively with a vested interest in each other’s learning as well as their own.

14. Learning Goals can be structured in threedifferent ways: • Cooperatively • Competitively • Individually

15. Competitive Learning Goals • One person can obtain their goal if and only if the other fail to obtain theirs • Negative Correlation Among Goal Attainments • “If I swim, you sink; If you swim I sink.” • Individual Goals • Winners are rewarded

16. Cooperative Learning • When one person achieves their goal, ALL others achieve their goals • Positive correlation among goal attainments • Positive Interdependence • “We sink or swim together.” • Group Goal • Rewarded for group product.

17. Interaction Patterns

18. Research Findings Cooperative Learning Helps our Students by Increasing • Achievement and retention • Critical thinking and higher-level reasoning • More realistic and accepting views of others • More accurate understanding of others’ perspectives or opinions • Increased liking for classmates

19. Research Findings Continued • Better attitude toward teacher • Positive expectations of future interactions • Increased liking for subject • Better social skills • Psychological health • Increased self-esteem

20. 5 Key ElementsofEffective Cooperative Learning Groups • Positive Interdependence (depending on each other) • Individual Accountability (each individual responsible for some part of the project) • Face-To-Face Interaction • Direct Instruction of Social Skills • Processing of the effectiveness of the group

21. The Message from teacher is that All of the successes or failures of the group are tied together It is in your interest to help / be helped Encourages helping each other Without Positive Interdependence there may be no motivation to cooperate. One set of answers from the group One worksheet Individual to represent group answer One set of materials / tools to share Same grade for everyone Positive Interdependence

22. Individual Accountability The message the teacher gives to the students: • You must do your fair share of the work. • You must master the material being learned. • You will be held accountable for your share of the work.

23. Face-To-Face Interaction • Sit at round tables so they can easily see and hear one another. • Space between the groups so the teacher can move between groups. • “Stay with your group.”

24. Direct Instruction of Social Skills • Intentionally teaching social skills like any other skill. • Structure regular opportunities for students to learn, practice and be evaluated on social skills until they become automatic. • Establishing a need for the social skill • Positively framing rules as skills • Include Social Skills in each lesson • Role Play what “listening” is and is not. • Discuss how it feels to be listened to / ignored. • Ask students to think of a time when they were listened to. How did it feel?

25. Group Processing • Intentionally structured time • Reflect on how well we worked together / used our social skills (social skills) • Reflect on how well we completed our work (academic) • Review data, • Make a goal for next time Tools for each student: • Rate yourself • What did someone in your group do or say that let you know you were being listened to? • Write a goal for improving / maintaining the high quality of listening for tomorrow’s work. • Name 3 things your group did well in working together. • Name 1 thing your group could do even better next time.

27. What Teachers Must Do for Cooperative learning to work • Lesson Objective • Group Size • Seating Arrangement (face-to-face) • Assignment of Roles • Materials • Social Skills (directly taught) • Statement of Task (positive interdependence) • Evaluation (individual accountability; include social skills) • Processing (reflection, how well we worked together, how well we mastered learning)

28. Teachers need to • Specify Instructional Objectives • Decide on Size of Group • Assign Students to Groups • Arrange the Room • Plan Instructional Materials to Promote Interdependence • Assign Roles to Ensure Interdependence / Support Learning Social Skills

29. Structuring Task & Interdependence • Explain the Academic Task • Structure Interdependence • Structure Individual Accountability • Structure Inter-group Cooperation • Explain Criteria for Success • Specify Desired Behaviors

30. Monitoring & Processing Teacher • Monitor Students’ Behavior • Provide Task Assistance • Intervene to Teach Collaborative Skills • Provide Closure to Lesson • Evaluate Quality and Quantity of Student’s Learning • Assess How Well The Group Functioned • Set Goals

31. WHAT CHILDREN CAN DO TOGETHER TODAY, THEY CAN DO ALONE TOMORROW. • Vygotsky, 1965

32. cooperative learning • The more social support a student has, • the higher the student’s achievement will tend to be, • the more the student will persist on challenging tasks, • the more likely students will be graduated, • the healthier psychologically and physically the students will tend to be, • the better able the students will be to manage stress, • and the more likely students will be to challenge their competencies to grow and develop.

33. cooperative learning • The longer a cooperative group exists, • the more caring their relationships will tend to be, • the greater the social support they will provide for each other, • the more committed they will be to teach other’s success, • and the more influence members will have over each other.

34. cooperative learning Thank you for attention!