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COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Many of the strategies discussed in this chapter involve having students work in groups of two or more to help each other learn. Commonly identified as cooperative learning (often interchangeably called collaborative learning or peer teaching), this teaching technique is different from conventional pedagogical approaches in five ways. It fosters students' face-to-face interaction, interpersonal and small group skills, group processing, individual accountability and personal responsibility, and positive interdependence. The benefits of cooperative learning have been recognized in many research findings over the past decade, particularly by Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1991) and Bruffee (1993). They have identified that the beneficial outcomes of cooperative efforts include positive interdependence, promotive interaction, positive relationship, psychological adjustment and social competence, and effort to achieve. In addition, cooperative learning gives students the opportunity to affirm their learning through teaching others ("To teach is to learn twice") and provides students with other styles of teaching that may be more accessible to them.
In addition to the works by Johnson, Johnson, and Smith and Bruffee, the recent Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education, Volumes I and II, published by the National Center for Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (1993-94), contain many descriptions of specific approaches to cooperative learning. A few commonly used approaches are introduced below.
Peer Learning
Classes can be divided into groups of about five students with a mixture of more and less knowledgeable students in each group. The groups are given learning tasks that will require them to share knowledge and experiences. The task may be to answer some review questions, pose some critical issues about a topic, solve a problem, apply some principles, or create a product. If the groups are balanced well, the task is clearly outlined, and the allocated time is appropriate for the task, the group will engage in peer learning and increase their abilities to function in an interpersonal setting through the process. The instructor's role is to serve as designer by carefully structuring the groups and tasks and to serve as facilitator while the groups are working, helping with interpersonal or task-related problems as they arise.Problem Solving
The use of problem solving as a strategy for active engagement and practice has been a traditional part of courses in such fields as mathematics and physics (Woods, 1994) and has now extended to other fields as well. The problem solving approach involves structuring learning around some central questions or typical practical cases in the discipline. Often, however, the instructor's task is more elaborate than simply devising good problems. An essential part of helping students to solve problems is the creation of an affective climate that is conducive to risk-taking and the free exchange of ideas. Direct instruction in the techniques of problem solving is also often required for students who have not had much problem-solving experience. The instructor will need to model how professionals in the field go about defining problems, gathering data, generating hypotheses, and supporting conclusions or solutions. In addition, researchers in teaching problem solving have found that helping students be aware of their problem-solving strategies is a characteristic of effective teachers. Often, having students "talk through" a problem out loud or work in pairs or groups increases their problem-solving skills.An ineffective way to approach teaching problem solving, which happens more often than desired, is for the instructor to do all the problem solving. While modeling is important, it is also important for students to try to apply their skills while the instructor is there to monitor their work and offer them assistance. Stephen Monk (1983), a mathematics instructor, observed of a class that he taught, "My TAs and I spent all the course time telling students how we did mathematics. Their job was to imitate us when they did the homework. The message was that learning was to take place not on course time but on their own time, away from the teachers and away from one another."
A very effective way to teach is an instructor demonstration of a particular problem-solving approach immediately followed by an opportunity for students to try a similar problem. Students can be asked to come to the board or overhead to show the steps they used, to switch papers with another student and compare work, or to list aloud the steps they used and the solution they reached. The results will be much better than a prolonged demonstration during which the instructor is repeatedly solving the problems him or herself.
Case Studies
Very broadly defined, a case study is a teaching instrument that portrays a real life situation for student analysis. Case studies are used frequently in professional schools to enable students to develop their skills in analyzing situations and making sound decisions, but cases are becoming very popular in other divisions as well. Often, a prepared case can be used, but when new cases are developed, the instructor should focus on an important dilemma or issue, create enough detail for the students to comprehend the case, and choose a situation about which there is room for debate and several possible courses of action. Students are asked to read the case before class. During the class session, the instructor first makes sure that the students understand the details of the case, then leads them through an analysis of the problem and discussion of possible alternative courses of action. The instructor serves as discussion facilitator, probing for detail, support for arguments, evidence, and the generation and critique of solutions.Learning Cells
Learning cells are a variety of peer learning that can be used when it is important to have students verbalize what they have read. Reading assignments are given before class and part of class time is spent with students in pairs telling each other what they read. Students may have read the same material beforehand, in which case they are demonstrating their comprehension and recall and getting an opportunity to clarify their understanding with one another, or they may have been assigned different readings, in which case they can complement each other's knowledge with some different information or perspectives.Discovery Format
In a discovery or inquiry format, the instructor sets up a novel situation, an interesting puzzle, or an open-ended question that students are asked to explore using their own creativity and resources. They may be asked to hypothesize, based on only partial information, on what building materials were used to construct an ancient building; they may be asked to construct a device for measuring something or making certain musical tones; or they may be asked to interview each other about what triggers depression in their lives. The instructor once again serves as designer of the activity, choosing activities that are likely to lead students to accomplish a learning goal, and as facilitator during the process, helping students stay on course and locate the resources they need. In the discovery format it is important for the instructor to stay as nondirective as possible so that students develop independence and personal excitement.
Role Playing
In many courses, role playing can be used to develop empathy; to enliven a historical, philosophical, or literary topic; or to provide a concrete enactment of an abstract topic. Volunteers are asked to portray certain roles and given sufficient information on the context to enable them to improvise dialogue and actions. In some classes, the instructors have attended class in the role of a character and have enlisted colleagues to join them in enacting a situation for the students. The class is asked to play the role of those in the situation as well, asking questions or engaging in dialogue in ways that would be appropriate for the setting. Role playing is not limited to classes in the humanities or social sciences: creative instructors in the physical sciences have used students to model DNA or demonstrate chemical bonding by joining students together in the appropriate configuration.Debate
Using a central aisle or a real or imaginary boundary to divide the class space in half, the instructor poses a debatable proposition and asks those who agree to sit in one section and those who disagree to sit in the other. (The instructor may also want to create a third section for those who are undecided.) The instructor then moderates, asking students from one section, then the other, to support their position. At set intervals of perhaps fifteen minutes, students are given the opportunity to move to another section, based on whether they have changed their positions through listening and participating in the debate. A variant on this theme is to have students argue for the opposite of their original positions by changing the section designations after the students have already chosen positions. The instructor is responsible for setting up the proposition, enforcing the rules of the debate, and summarizing the discussion and results of the debate. More formal and elaborate variants of debates involve multiple weeks of preparation by students and can represent part of the final grade.Simulations
Simulations allow students to engage in learning activities that may otherwise be too time consuming, too expensive, or ethically questionable (requiring animals or requiring intervention into human behavior). Using an established game or computer software or creating a scenario, the instructor develops a simulated environment within which students will engage in activity directed toward a learning goal. They may be asked to set up companies and create mergers; they may be asked to develop marketing packages that they will present to a real or simulated client; they may be blindfolded to experience sightlessness; or they may be required to recreate a military battle or other historical event using a new strategy. The role of the instructor is to identify and preview established simulations for use in the course or to create scenarios that are likely to engage students in experiential learning directed toward a course goal. During the simulation, the instructor serves as a facilitator. previous page |
