This week, in my masters class we were asked to explore “Cooperative Learning” and reflect on the strategy and how it relates to social learning theories. "Social Learning Theories focus on students being engaged in learning through construction of artifacts and conversing with others"(Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). "Cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning"(Pitler,et.al., 2007).
In my classroom I typically spend about three weeks with my 5th grade students focusing on cooperative activities that are primarily geared toward problem solving. I focus mainly on communication, compromise, cooperation, and sportsmanship. At the end of the three weeks I take my students to an outdoor learning center called Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center, where the students are put into small groups and complete the different challenge activities. Whenever I take my students on this field trip it's always very interesting to see the "positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing" that goes on throughout the day with each group (Pitler,et.al., 2007).
Some of the social networking and collaboration technology tools that I explored this week that I'd like to include into my classroom for the future are blogs and facebook. I think these resources would provide my students with the means to socialize in, as well as outside of the classroom. While I favor using blogs within the classroom, I think that facebook could be a great tool for students to use outside of class to keep in touch with their classmates and share ideas and thoughts about classroom assignments. Lastly, I'd also like to explore the jigsaw technique to cooperative learning to help the lower-end and higher-end students learn from one another; to give each student a purpose and responsibility for learning; and to keep students engaged.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
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I am curious about using facebook as a way to share thoughts and ideas about classroom assignments. I have teenage boys and their facebook posts are anything but academic in nature. Would you as the teacher participate in those discussions or guide them in any way? Interacting with students in an informal way, outside of the school parameters, seems risky to me. There are too many news stories about inappropriate conversations and relationships between students and teachers. How do you envision using facebook? Do you think the kids would just "friend" their classmates and use it on their own without any involvement from you?
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteI think the jigsaw strategy would be a great addition to your cooperative learning activities. In your discipline of Physical Education, there must be many opportunities for social learning. The jigsaw strategy allows each group member the chance to offer equal input as other group members. So, even if they are not as athletically inclined as their peers, each student can still provide valuable additions to the group project.
What a neat experience for students to attend the outdoor learning center. As you stated, spending time beforehand teaching and modeling communication and cooperation skills ensures that students will be prepared and successful in responding to the challenges that their group will face throughout the learning course.
David,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of taking your students to a challenge activity course. I would like to do that with my students as well. Recently the Ymca completed a nice ropes and challenge course. I would like to bring my students there on a field trip. And I agree Facebook is a great tool for keep connected, One of my colleagues setup a school account for his students if they needed to ask questions about homework they could, at times he would even be on the instant messenger for students who had homework questions. And this was strictly limited to school work.
Mike Benson
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI feel that Facebook is a tool that students are so familar with that it would require little effort on my part, but as Christina said, I'd have to be aware and cautious of how I used it.
David,
ReplyDeleteI am with Jen and Mike in saying that the outdoor challenge sounds fantastic. I bet that's a real bonding experience for some of the students to spend some time with classmates they might not have otherwise. In your opinion, does it provide the students with some real teamwork skills? What sort of reflection assignments do you do after the challenge day to close out that part of the year?
On another note, I agree with Christina as well about some of the pitfalls of Facebook. The problem with Facebook is that it's . . . unruly I guess is the word I will use. Almost all of my High School students have a Facebook page and things can get pretty nasty on there, so I guess you'd have to be careful about what kinds of interactions the kids had with you and one another. Also, some of the parents of your students may not allow to have their fifth grader even have a Facebook page. Maybe a private wiki would be safer!
Best of luck,
Megan B.