The Importance of Interdependence Within the Classroom

Group Work “Scaries”

Everybody has heard the common horror stories about group work. Typically, there is the group member that hoards the project, the member that gets upset with this, and lastly, the group member who sits back with his or her feet up while watching the work get done. Clearly, this method doesn’t benefit any group member.

How do you build a group project or assignment that is fool proof against this scenario? How do you, as a teacher, make sure that all students are needed? The key is cooperative learning.

Cooperative Learning? What’s That?

Cooperative learning is a teaching method that requires the use of real group work. This group work type is typically different from regular methods. Cooperative learning requires that students:

• Truly depend on one another
• Figure out a piece of their own puzzle
• Put individual information together to reach a conclusion
• All contribute to the assignment or project
• Actually work as a group
• Equally distribute work load

From the above points, it can be seen that the most important factor of cooperative learning is interdependence. Students must need each other’s individual minds and thought processes to reach an overall consensus on the lesson.

With this in mind, independence within a cooperative learning based group project is still important; but only in the beginning.

Compile your own thoughts independently, then work as a team!

Why is Interdependence Even Important?

Interdependence allows for all students to express their thoughts and opinions. Students are not blank slates! They bring previously built ideas into the classroom that deserve to be shared. Interdependence allows for students to:

• Share individual knowledge with one another
• Debate between said individual knowledge points
• Use argument techniques to change possible misconceptions within other students
• Piece together individual ideas to build new and more “whole” ideas

The video below gives a great visual representation of interdependence within a classroom. Hopefully this helps your envisioning of the concept.

Try to make your groups diverse! Students with different experiences can piece together some great puzzle pieces.

As a Teacher, How Do I Make Sure That My Group Work Will Entail Cooperative Learning?

Wonderful question, reader! The reason that a lot of group work fails is due to the fact that its basis does not require teamwork to get to the finish line.

https://twitter.com/KYezierski/status/1047582828765085706

There are many ways that you, as a teacher, can require true teamwork and interdependence within group work. There are several models that one can follow to maximize cooperative learning within a lesson such as:

• STAD
• Jigsaw II
• Co-Op Co-Op
• Group Investigation
• Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning

While these models may be slightly different, they all require interdependence. The goal is not to bore you with the definitions and methods within these models. I want to provide the key reasons as to why they work!

What takes place within these methods that guarantees cooperative learning?

• Students individually become masters of their own small topics within a larger topic, then proceed to teach another group of students.
  • This leads to the understanding of the topic as a whole.
• Students’ progressions are assessed together to ensure use of everyone’s mind.
• Students may pick a topic, and make groups based on topic interests.
  • This ensures that the students are motivated to share ideas and master their topics.
• Team presentations require multiple students’ input.

Watch the video below to gain more expertise of a productive group project. Where does cooperative learning fit in?

Cool, right?

What Could Cooperative Learning Look Like in a Science Classroom?

Cooperative learning based group projects can be used in a science classroom to help piece together difficult concepts. For example:

• A group of students could break off and learn about one piece of an acid-base titration lab that they may be curious about. These small pieces could include:
  • What is a buffer? How do buffers work? Is an indicator a buffer?
  • What is pH, and how does it relate to acids and bases? How can pH be measured?
  • What is equilibrium?

Once each individual has gained an understanding of their topic, the group could form         back together and complete the guided lab. The student who knows how the buffer               works could describe to another student when to use to buffer. The student who has             mastered acid base equilibrium could explain to the student who understand pH why           the pH is the way it is within certain points of the experiment.

• A group of students could be provided with “secret” cards that give clues to specific periodic trends. The group would be provided with a plain periodic table that must be labeled with these trends. The students would need to share their cards with one another to piece together what the cards are representing, then each label the group periodic table once conclusions have been reached. Having each student use a different colored marker ensures that each student is contributing to the final periodic table.