{"id":297,"date":"2017-10-06T21:24:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T01:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=297"},"modified":"2017-10-06T21:24:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T01:24:57","slug":"building-the-a-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/10\/building-the-a-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the A-Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Think back to high school, maybe even middle school (in some cases college), what was the one activity that every time the teacher mentioned it you cringed?\u00a0 There are probably a lot of different answers, but the most common one was probably “group projects”.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Shouldn’t group projects be great? We get to work with our friends (if the teacher didn’t assign the groups) and make something interesting and hopefully have fun with it.\u00a0 But the truth is one person did almost all the work while everyone else goofed off or provided moral support.<\/p>\n

That’s a group, not a\u00a0team<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Now instead of working in groups, let’s put people into teams and get them performing their best.\u00a0 When you get a team together, they usually struggle at first, but with some relationship building and work they will be the best you got.\u00a0 And that’s the difference between a team and a group, the relationship<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Let’s get this team together and start cooperating.\u00a0 The first thing we will do is get them forming bonds, if they don’t feel any connection to the people they are working with, then it will be hard for them to work together.\u00a0 But once you have those bonds, it’s time to get them working together for a goal.<\/p>\n

This is the entire idea behind cooperative learning.\u00a0 We want to get students to form a relationship with one another, and then go out and complete a mutual goal together.\u00a0 That could be a project, a discussion, or even a worksheet.\u00a0 Cooperative learning doesn’t come in just one flavor, but rather it comes in five.<\/p>\n

The “Flavors” of Cooperative Learning<\/h2>\n

STAD (Student Teams Achievement Divisions)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • The most commonly used form of cooperative learning\n
      \n
    • Teacher presents information in a lecture style format<\/li>\n
    • Students are placed in teams of 4-5 and work on worksheets, labs, etc together<\/li>\n
    • Encourages collaboration<\/li>\n
    • Team\/Student improvements are measured and the teams are recognized on how well they did or improved<\/li>\n
    • Students are quizzed individually<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • Easiest to implement into a traditional classroom<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      https:\/\/twitter.com\/MrDriessel\/status\/916304480211296256<\/a><\/p>\n

      Jigsaw II<\/strong><\/p>\n

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      • Students are placed into teams where each individual is given something to be an expert on\n
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        • Work with the students from other teams that are also becoming experts on the topic and do research on it<\/li>\n
        • Students are able to do their research\/learning however they want<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
        • The students become experts on their topic and then present it to their original team\n
            \n
          • This produces discussions between the students<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • Encourages students to present their information in a format unique to them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n

            A meeting of minds to help become experts on their topic #eba<\/a> #jigsaw<\/a> #cooperativelearning<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/GPLzw7A6dJ<\/a><\/p>\n

            — Ashley Faher (@an_faher) September 28, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n