Bradford – Cooperative Learning Lessons

• White board and markers
• Baggies with small handout, 20 toothpicks, and a coin (Task 1)
• Handouts with pictures representing phrases (Task 2)
• About 7 hula hoops (1 per group, Task 4)
• Pencil and paper (Students)

• I will begin the discussion on collaborative learning with a Chalk Talk, where students come up to the board to write something they think about a statement I put on the board.  The statement I will use is “Teamwork is…”
• Following the chalk talk, we will discuss what teamwork looks like, and interesting things that come about from the chalk talk.
• If certain aspects of collaborative learning do not come up during the chalk talk, I will ask the students follow-up questions.  Examples of these are below:
  • “Why do you think I am choosing to have you work in teams?”
  • “Do you think the tasks I will be given to you could be done individually?”
  • “What does it look like to work in teams rather than individually?”
  • “What does every team member have to contribute to the group as a whole?”
  • “What have you liked about working with others in the past?  What have you not liked?”
• Through conversation, students will discuss what successful teamwork looks like: communication, interdependence, listening to others, compromising, working together, valuing the skills each group member brings to the group, respecting each other, choosing the most logical idea (not just majority rules).

2. Team Building Activity: Students will be trying to find a missing object from my classroom.  The students will be completing four problem solving tasks as a team to find the missing object.  Upon completing each task, students will see me to check if they completed it successfully, and then I will give them a clue.  Therefore, altogether, they can receive four clues. *Each task is designed to include problem solving and interdependence.  Some tasks require each member to take a specific role.  Other tasks are challenging in nature, which encourages students to seek one another for help. *

• Task One: Toothpick Puzzles
  • Students will be given a bag with toothpicks, and a slip of paper including the puzzles shown below.  Students will solve the puzzles and then show me their finished work.

• Task Two: Picture Phrases
  • Students will decode the following pictures to determine what phrases they represent.

• Task Three: Telephone Pictionary
  • For this task, students will be asked to be completely silent.  I will give one student in the group a word.  That student will draw a picture for the second group member to look at.  The second group member will guess a word that it represents and show it to the third group member.  The third group member will draw a picture to show the fourth group member.  The fourth group member will write down the word that is represented, and will show me.  If incorrect, I will give them a new word.

• Task Four: Hula Hoop Challenge
  • All group members will stand in a line with hands held to create a “line.”  Starting with one end, students will move the hula hoop down the line.  Students cannot disconnect their line, or they have to start over.  Once they get the hula hoop through their “line,” they have completed the task.

• Once students have found all four clues from the activity, they will use the clues to find the missing object.

3. Reflection:

• Students will write a reflection of the team building experience answering the following questions:
  • Overall, how did the team building activity go?
  • What is one thing your team did really well?
  • What is one thing your team could improve upon?
  • What is one thing you learned about yourself from doing this activity?
• I will collect student responses to better understand how students felt during the activity.  At this point, I will not have students share their experiences with the class, but as cooperative learning continues and students become more comfortable within their groups, I will encourage students to share about group work.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.2 Use data from a random sample to draw inferences about a population with an unknown characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or simulated samples) of the same size to gauge the variation in estimates or predictions. For example, estimate the mean word length in a book by randomly sampling words from the book; predict the winner of a school election based on randomly sampled survey data. Gauge how far off the estimate or prediction might be. Draw informal comparative inferences about two populations.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.B.3 Informally assess the degree of visual overlap of two numerical data distributions with similar variabilities, measuring the difference between the centers by expressing it as a multiple of a measure of variability. For example, the mean height of players on the basketball team is 10 cm greater than the mean height of players on the soccer team, about twice the variability (mean absolute deviation) on either team; on a dot plot, the separation between the two distributions of heights is noticeable.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.B.4 Use measures of center and measures of variability for numerical data from random samples to draw informal comparative inferences about two populations. For example, decide whether the words in a chapter of a seventh-grade science book are generally longer than the words in a chapter of a fourth-grade science book.

• In this lesson, each group member will study a specific topic associated with data collection and analysis, and then will teach the lesson to their group.  Following their explanations to the group, students will a project with their group collecting data from the rest of the class, and then analyzing their findings.
• Note: In the Jigsaw method, students are quizzed following peer-to-peer teaching.  However, the project is seen as a summative assessment to test students’ ability to collect and analyze data.
• How This Lesson Encouraging Interdependence: Individual students are learning about topics and then teaching them to their groups, which creates accountability. Additionally, students are working together to create a project based off of what they have learned, and each student will put his or her name on the project.  Because each student becomes an expert in one category, they can use these strengths while creating the project.

• Pencil, lined paper, and graphed paper.
• Calculators
• Individual Chromebooks or computers
• Many supplies will vary based on students’ needs for their mini-lessons.

2. Choosing Topics: Students will begin in groups of 5.  Each group member will choose one topic in the data and stats unit to become an expert on:

(1)    Population and Sample (Includes vocabulary, types of samples, and identifying bias)

(2)    Mean, Median, Mode, Range, and Outliers

(3)    Box and Whisker Plots

(4)    Histograms and Bar Graphs

(5)    Comparing Data Using Variability and Measures of Center

3. Learning with Expert Groups: Students will move into “Expert Groups” to learn about their topics and plan lessons.  For each topic, students will have videos to watch, practices, and a culminating quiz.  All quizzes will be given on Schoology to give students immediate feedback.  Some of the resources for these groups can be seen below.  However, since the quizzes are on Schoology, they are unable to be linked.

(1)    Population and Sample

• Vocabulary and Practice

(2)    Mean, Median, Mode, Range, and Outliers

• Vocabulary and Practice
• Mean, Median, Mode, Range, and Outliers Video 1
• Mean, Median, Mode, Range, and Outliers Video 2
• Khan Academy Practice
• Impact of Removing an Outlier Video

(3)    Box and Whisker Plots

• Vocabulary and Practice
• Box and Whisker Plots Video
• Creating Box and Whisker Plots

(4)    Histograms and Bar Graphs

• Practice Worksheet
• Histograms and Bar Graphs Video 1
• Histograms and Bar Graphs Video 2
• Creating Histograms

(5)    Comparing Data Using Variability and Measures of Center

• Handout Part 1
• Handout Part 2
• Khan Academy Practice

4.       Planning Mini-Lessons: Once students have learned about their topic, they will plan an interactive mini-lesson with their expert groups to teach their original groups about the topic.

5.       Teaching Mini-Lessons: Students will rejoin their original group to complete mini lessons.  The group members will share their lessons in the order seen above.

6.       Data Collection and Analysis Project: Following the mini-lessons, each group will be completing a data collection and analysis project.  In the project, the students will be asked to:

(1)    Collect two sets of comparable data from the rest of the class or school on a topic that interests them.

(2)    Find measures of center and measures of variability for the data.

(3)    Create a double histogram or double bar graph of the data.

(4)    Create a double box and whisker plot of the data.

(5)    Analyze the data.

An image of the student project page can be seen below.

7.       Reflection:

• Following the projects, students will reflect upon the experience of working with their teams.
  • Overall, how did you work as a team in this unit?
  • What is one thing your team did really well?
  • What is one thing your team could improve upon?
  • Were there any issues that you had to resolve as a team?
  • What is one thing you learned about yourself from doing this activity?
• Notes: As students work, I will walk around the room to provide guidance and pose questions to students as needed.  I will acknowledge positive teamwork behavior as I walk around to different groups.

• Check-Ins during “Expert Group” time and while students work on projects
• Quizzes during “Expert Group” portion of the lesson
• Student reflections about working as a team

Summative Assessment:

• Group Projects