{"id":1415,"date":"2018-10-03T22:37:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T02:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=1415"},"modified":"2018-10-03T22:37:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T02:37:08","slug":"group-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2018\/10\/group-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Group Work Doesn’t Have to be as Terrible as it Sounds!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As soon as a teacher says “group project” or “work in groups” suddenly your gut reaction of dread and probably loathing occurs. Why? Is group work really that bad?<\/p>\n

Chances are, if you have the reaction like I just described, you probably either end up doing most of the work in a group project or you’ve witnessed someone else take over the project and you haven’t been able to participate.<\/p>\n

This is working in groups executed poorly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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How can it be better?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To make working in groups successful<\/em> and facilitate<\/em> learning<\/em>, teachers should look into techniques for cooperative learning.<\/p>\n

Cooperative learning\u00a0<\/strong>is different from your stereotypical group work scenario because it places the responsibility of learning on the students and the group members are reliant on each other to complete a task or gather all of the pieces of a concept. Without a member of the group participating, they cannot be successful.<\/p>\n

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An important distinction to make is that between collaborative learning and cooperative learning.<\/p>\n

Collaborative learning tends to follow more towards the trend of the hated group work, while cooperative learning allows for more interdependence and learning. This article explains it well:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/resourced.prometheanworld.com\/collaborative-cooperative-learning\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do I use cooperative learning?<\/h2>\n

Below are several different examples of models of cooperative learning<\/p>\n

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  1. STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions)\u00a0<\/strong>\n
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    1. In this model, the teacher presents material and then the teams will get together to work on questions or activities to help solidify the information they have learned.<\/li>\n
    2. Students take an individual quiz after the team time.<\/li>\n
    3. Quiz scores can be compared to previous base scores to track improvement and encourage teamwork for better understanding.<\/li>\n
    4. Recognize team members for their work or improvement over the weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    5. Jigsaw II<\/strong>\n
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      1. Students are split into groups and become experts on a topic.<\/li>\n
      2. Students then return to teams made up of different experts in subjects.<\/li>\n
      3. They share what they have learned and teach to learning team members the subject of interest.<\/li>\n
      4. A quiz is given and improvement is tracked like in STAD.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      5. Co-op Co-op\u00a0<\/strong>\n
          \n
        1. Students create teams based on an area of interest.<\/li>\n
        2. Within their groups, individual students will research a specific topic within that subject area.<\/li>\n
        3. Students come back together to discuss their findings and present to the class what they have found.<\/li>\n
        4. Students can be evaluated in any way deemed appropriate including quizzes, group discussions, or have no formal evaluation at all.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        5. Group Investigation<\/strong>\n
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          1. This is very similar to co-op co-op with a few differences.<\/li>\n
          2. The groups of students decide what they will be studying and what their specific focus will be individually.<\/li>\n
          3. The teacher will help plan out how the students will study this.<\/li>\n
          4. Students carry out the learning process in a variety of ways with little guidance from the teacher. They then come together to put what they have found together in a cohesive way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
          5. Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning<\/strong>\n
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            1. Information is presented by the teacher and followed by open-ended questions.<\/li>\n
            2. Students can then get into their own groups after writing questions of their own.<\/li>\n
            3. They then discuss these questions with each other — they don’t have to know the answers!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              \"Image<\/p>\n

              How can I make this work in my classroom?<\/h2>\n

              Some ideas for incorporating this into the classroom could include:<\/p>\n

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              • Using Jigsaw II to have students learn about the organelles of the cells. Students could become experts on a specific organelle and report back to their group about different structures, functions, and importance.<\/li>\n
              • Using Group Investigation, students can explore the topic of evolution. Some groups may choose to investigate how it has been perceived in education throughout the years, the different types of natural selection and how they can be seen in nature, how a specific organism seems to have evolved over the years, etc. The sky is the limit!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                This video goes on to show how this is effective in the classroom and the value it adds to your limited time for teaching.<\/p>\n