Cooperative Learning: Introduction

Cooperative learning is a theory that students work best when they are in groups, working together to solve a problem, accompish a task or create an artifact. All cooperative learning activties include a measure of accountability, divided but interdependent roles, face-to-face interaction and a common goal of what is to be accomplished.

Cooperative learning has been linked to increases in student engagement (rather than the teacher speaking the entire time), in student achievement, in language development and in self-efficacy.

Despite these findings, many teachers do not structure lesson plans to include cooperative learning activities. For some, any type of group activity is a classroom managment nightmare. For others, it is a control issue. How can they guarantee the students learn the information if no teacher seems present? For others, it is simply too much of a jump from the traditional class of students in rows and the teacher speaking up front.

It is a misnomer to call cooperative learning "group work." The following list describes the differences between cooperative learning and group work:

1. In group work, all people have the same job, task and role. In cooperative learning, students have a defined role with a respective task.
2. In group work, students engage in a task that they could do individually. There is a sense that they don't "need" one another. In cooperative learning, students depend upon one another for each learning activity.
3. In group work, there is rarely any sense of accountability. In cooperative learning, individuals hold one another accountability.
4. In group work, there is little training ahead of time. Groups are created and students must figure out how to get along. In cooperative learning, students have recieved instructions in how to handle conflict, divide tasks, use metacognition and set their own goals.

Constructivism: Critcisms

FIVE CRITICISMS OF CONSTRUCTIVISMS

1. The world doesn't work that way. In other words, companies often require isolated, boring tasks, dutiful employees. Work doesn't have to be meaningful and motivation is almost always extrinsic. If things like bonuses and higher salary weren't motivational, why would companies still use them? In response to this, many constructivists point out that in the New Economy, things are shifting toward a more constructivist paradigm.
2. It can be watered down. Sometimes, in an effort to follow the process, to make things experiental or toreach the "whole student," constructivists can sacrifice parts of the curriculum.
3. It ignores the need for remedial work. There is a time and a place for drill and review and for targetted work on isolated skills.
4. Too much reliance on group work allows students to be lazy. It can also mean that they lose the individual drive to accomplish tasks. In some cases, group work can lead to a dangerous "group think."
5. Misinterpretations are common. For example, people confuse being active with actively engaged, using computers with mindtools, fun with intrinsic motivation. All of these can be dangerously applied in classroom settings.

Constructivism: Project Ideas

PROJECT IDEAS

TEN SOCIAL STUDIES PROJECT IDEAS

1. Independent Project - Begin with inquiry and follow the students through a research, implementation and expression phase. This can work well with the Project Social Voice concept, where students engage in authentic interviews, community Needs Assessments and primary source data.
2. Reflective Portfolios - Allow students to show artifacts of their learning and write reflections about what they learned and how they grew in the process.
3. Solving a Problem - Using the Problem-based learning approach, students can study a conflict, research the implications of the conflict and develop their own solution.
4. Poetry Album - Students place themselves into the role of the Harlem Renaissance. As they explore the time period, they create a concept map and write poems connecting the concept of freedom. It becomes a Jazz concept album. If students are musically inclined, they can even experiment with using jazz beats in their poetry and doing a recorded poetry album.
5. Documentary - Students begin with inquiry, move into research and present their information in the form of a documentary. Working in groups, they create skits and story boards and walk through the stages of production. Encourage students to think critically about the medium itself by asking questions such as, "How do people act differently when they are on film?"
6. WebQuest - Although WebQuests can be too isolated and fail to engage students, a well-crafted WebQuest will force students to make cognitive connections. One idea would be to take a former event and have students find connections between those events and the current events. (For example, the Cold War and the War on Terror)
7. Create a Candidate - As students learn about the executive branch, place them in a team of political experts who will create a political candidate who can win. The process can involve interviews with real politicians, exploration of current issues and a group development of a political platform. Students can use spreadsheets to analyze demographic data to predict the likelihood of winning particular states.

Constructivism: Introduction

WHAT IS CONSTRUCTIVISM?

Constructivism is an elusive philosophy. In many respects, like post-modernism, a definition would defy its own definition. Instead, a true constructivist would say, "You define it and see how the concepts are interconnected."

In general, constructivism is the educational philosophy (some would argue theory) that knowledge is internalized and constructed by the learner; that it must be developmentally appropriate; that it should be authentic in its task and that it should meet the needs of all learners. In addition, most constructivists believe that motivation is intrinsic, so they deny the system of rewards and punishments. Moreover, constructivists believe that students should be mentally active in the learning process rather than recieving instruction via transmission.

In many respects, constructivism can seem like an assortment of loose theories pulled into one. However, the single unifying thought is that, in constructivism, the student is the one who creates meaning and constructs conceptual knowledge.

HOW CONSTRUCTIVISM DIFFERS FROM TRADITIONAL PEDAGOGY

The following paradigm shifts involve moving away from traditional pedagogy and toward constructivism:

• From extrinsic to intrinsic motivation
• From grading to assessing
• From standardized assessments to authentic assessments
• From direct instruction to inquiry and independent projects
• From isolated skills to interconnected concepts
• From the teachers as instructor to the teacher as facilitator
• From passive learning to active engagement (here the issues is not "active" in a sense of having fun, but of being mentally "active" through meaningful, challenging learning)
• From rote memorization to higher level thinking
• From one modality to multiple intelligences
• From one-size-fits-all to differentiated instruction
• From transmission of knowledge to construction of knowledge
• From individual to cooperative learning

Constructivism: Theorists

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORISTS

There are many constructivist theorists. In fact, the following theorists are often credited for developing their own educational theories (lending to the notion that constructivism is a pedagogical philosophy rather than a single, unified theory). Some would say that Socrates was the first constructivist, given his style of dialogues. Others would credit Rousseau (we can't give the French that much credit, though. It's simply un-American. It would be like claiming they made the Statue of Liberty)

	Bruner - The first of the educational psychologists to suggest that learning occured in the mind rather than in external behaviors, Bruner helped pave the way for Multiple Intelligences, by suggesting that there were various modalities of learning, including his step theories of enactive representation (action-based), iconic representation (image-based) and symbolic representation (language-based). In addition, Bruner posited the nothion that there are two modes of congition: the narrative (linear, sequential) and paradigmatic (systemic, categorical).
	Dewey - Although he was the founder of modern, progressive education, Dewey was a pragmatist who was less about the "ism" and more about practical reality. Dewey believed in holistic education, knowledge construction and a more human alternative to factory-style education. In addition, he believed that education was not "for the future," but valuable in the moment. He also suggested that knowledge should be experiential and multi-sensory.
	Piaget - In many respects, he was the first to suggest that learners created their own concepts and that it occured through a process of maturation (in stages). Though many educators now discredit his rigid categories, his legacy is important to understanding constructivism.
	Jonassen - His work helped popularize constructivism and helped guide teachers to understand how they could use technology within a constructivist framwork. Jonassen helped to add solid, empiracle research to the constructivist movement. In addition, he demonstrated that technology needed to be integrated holistically and used by the learner to construct knowledge, rather than simply using it passively to recieve knowledge.
	Vygotsky - His contribution included the notion of scaffolding, the importance of groups and the notion that teachers should facilitate a learning environment rather than teach directly. Vygotsky helped pave the way for theories such as the social learning theory and cooperative learning.

Constructivism: Lesson Ideas

LESSON IDEAS

TEN SOCIAL STUDIES IDEAS

• Inquiry-based activity - Students begin by asking a question, developing it in-depth and finding a solution using primary sources
• Defining a concept - Students create their own definitions and rotate around the room using manipulatives to test it. For example, the word might be "propaganda" and they have to decide whether various artifacts are propaganda.
• Developing a philosophy - Students pose questions, engage in a Socratic Seminar and then create their own Life Philosophy. Or it can be more isolated. For example, students could begin with a higher-level thinking question such as, "What is art?" followed by a discussion of whether it should be beautiful. They could analyze a shoe and a painting, which would then lead into the study of modernism and Dada art. As they then look at real example, they would add to a concept map about modern art and make connections between modern art and other areas of modernism.
• Using spreadsheets to organize and analyze information. Students can, for example, input statistics on war casualties of various years in comparison to overall population and analyze which wars were the most devastating. In the process, they can make connections to various time periods.
• Rating technology - Each group reads about a specific technology and spends time researching it. One member of each group then has to stand in front of the class. Students hold pictures of various technology used during a time period and other students have to rate it. They physically move the students from place to place in order to defend their answers.
• Classroom as a Factory - Turn the classroom into a factory and have students make a picture. As they work, begin using Supply and Demand to move the workers in and out. See if the wages drop and if the workers unite for a union. Afterward, have groups answer questions about the pros and cons of the factories (it could be environmental, economic, political, etc.). Introduce the concept of supply and demand within the context of the activity. See if they can create a solution to the problem.
• Have students create a metaphor of what is being taught. For example, if the issue is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, have them create a metaphor and then work in groups comparing and constrasting the metaphors. Have them describe the metaphor in a paragraph and describe a new metaphor if there was a solution. (Example: Divorced family and each group marries someone else) Afterward, let the group choose one metaphor and have other groups accuracies and inaccuracies of each metaphor.
• Post a reading or a quote on a wall and have groups rotate around the reading, adding their own thoughts or questions to the quote. This can be a powerful way to do high levels of reading while keeping it interactive.
• Civil War Battle - Create a mock battle where students must use trenches, resources, etc. to have a paper fight between the North and the South. In the process, ask students to define which group has more resources, higher population, etc. Ask open questions, such as, "Was it fair of the United States to prevent the South from leaving?" Afterward, have them analyze charts or maps about each side's resources or primary source writings from the time period.
• Have groups stationed around the room to represent concepts. Have one huge ball of yarn. Each group can then use the yarn to find connections between various concepts, if they can explain how the concepts are related.