Cooperative Learning
What is cooperative learning? In their article Cooperative Learning in Mathematics, Roza Leikin and Orit Zaslavsky propose four conditions that establish a cooperative-learning setting:
(1) Students learn in small groups with two to six members in a group; (2) the learning tasks in which students are engaged require that the students mutually and positively depend on one another and on the group’s work as a whole; (3) the learning environment offers all members of the group an equal opportunity to interact with one another regarding the learning tasks and encourages them to communicate their ideas in various ways, for example, verbally; and (4) each member of the group has a responsibility to contribute to the group work and is accountable for the learning process of the group.
The third condition is considered to be important because it shows that cooperative learning is more than just having students form groups in a class. The purpose of cooperative learning is not just for students to work with their peers, but to also be able to interact and communicate, which is very helpful in mathematics in particular. For example, “Cooperative learning includes the following features: face-to-face interaction, positive interdependence, individual accountability, and building social skills” (Rubenstein, Beckmann, and Thompson 11). Through this technique the students will learn and grow at the same time. However, before beginning this process, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration.
Before beginning cooperative learning in a classroom the teacher needs to make decisions. Determining the size of each group is the first choice to be made; this depends on the numb...
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...h one another, and therefore developing their social skills. They are learning interpersonal and small-group skills by building trust within their groups and using conflict-resolution skills. Overall, “Cooperative learning is an effective tool for building collaboration within classrooms, a major component of learning communities” (Rubenstein, Beckmann, and Thompson 11). It is a teaching strategy that, in most cases, is beneficial to all.
Bibliography
Davidson, Neil. Cooperative Learning in Mathematics: A Handbook for Teachers. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1990.
Leikin, Roza and Orit Zaslavsky. “Cooperative Learning in Mathematics.” Mathematics Teacher 92 (March 1999): 240-246.
Rubenstein, Rheta N., Charlene E. Beckmann, and Denisse R. Thompson. Teaching and Learning Middle Grades Mathematics. Emeryville, CA: Key College Publishing, 2004.
Ceramics are most commonly used in dental applications as restorative materials for crowns, cements and dentures.
Van de Walle, J., , F., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2010). Elementary and middle school mathematics, teaching developmentally. (Seventh ed.). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.
Barr, C., Doyle, M., Clifford, J., De Leo,T., Dubeau, C. (2003). "There is More to Math: A Framework for Learning and Math Instruction” Waterloo Catholic District School Board
Currently, the company has more than 60,000 employees who work in more than 90 countries to help customers in finding, evaluating, drilling , producing, transporting and processing their resources. The company is also organized into four regions which are Europe, Africa, and Russia Caspian (EARC), Middle East and Asia Pacific(MEAP), North America, and Latin America, with head Quarters in Houston, TX, United States of America.
While the activity can be conducted in groups of three-to-five, the pairing strategy used in the activity allows for equal retention as the three-to-five grouping strategy if conducted correctly by finding students who will work well together. In a study conducted by Po-Jen, Ming-Chao, Chu-Sing, and Chun-Wei (2012), “this strategy can also help students to have a better understanding of lessons and improve their learning achievement.” (p236). Students who would feel uncomfortable within a larger group can speak more freely if there is a single partner, even more so if it builds off a relationship that is already present. By utilizing social interactions between students, the teacher can create more effective pairs in the classroom. The previous social interactions will encourage the students to speak more freely with each other about the topic, and in turn, promote retention and understanding of the
Factors that may have influenced the findings were students being interviewed by their instructor and having students write down the laps they ran each week. While interviewing, the students were encouraged to be honest in their feelings about their experience in cooperative learning groups. Some students may have felt like they would be disappointing the instructor by answering in any type of negative way about cooperative learning groups. Students may have felt that answering in a negative way about cooperative learning groups may result in the teacher not liking them as much.
Building self-esteem, enhancing student satisfaction with the learning experience, and promoting a positive attitude toward the subject matter are all benefits of collaborative learning. A higher degree of accomplishment takes place as a group because you essentially are a team. An example of this is a sports team. In a collaborative situation it takes every member to do his or her part in order for a situation to have a greater resolution; as where a sports team needs everybody’s individual talent to win a game. In retrospect, as a group; the contributions of our own talents can make the difference between a “win or Lose situation” it gives you a sense of competition, and knowing that you can win as a group; self esteem in one’s self is accentuated. Johnson and Johnson (1989), Slavin (1967). Another benefit to collaborative learning is based on the members of your group. Every individual in the group demonstrates their own input based on where they were born, what nationality they are so on and so on. The benefit of this is that you get a different perspective on things rather than always knowing what you know. You can take information from other cultures and add or apply it to what you already know.
Skemp, R (2002). Mathematics in the Primary School. 2nd ed. London: Taylor and Francis .
Collaborative learning is an educational approach that involves groups of learners working together to reach a consensus through negotiation to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product (Bruffee, 1993). Learning occurs through active engagement among peers, wherein the main characteristics of collaborative learning are: a common task or activity; small group learning, co-operative behaviour; interdependence; and individual responsibility and accountability (Lejeune, 2003).
Kirova, A., & Bhargava, A. (2002). Learning to guide preschool children's mathematical understanding: A teacher's professional growth. 4 (1), Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/kirova.html
Silver, E. A. (1998). Improving Mathematics in Middle School: Lessons from TIMSS and Related Research, US Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328.
Skemp, R. R. (1976). Relational understanding and instrumental understanding. Mathematics Teaching, 77, 20-26. Retreived from: http://math.coe.uga.edu/olive/EMAT3500f08/instrumental-relational.pdf
In the last couple of decades there has been an increasing awareness of and focus on co-operative learning in classrooms, this focus has had both positive and negative effects on the students involved in it. Co-operative learning is a technique that involves students forming small groups and working together towards a common goal e.g. completing a specific task (Bainbridge, C. 2010). Co-operative learning is a social issue because it has a very different effect on gifted and high achieving students, than it does on lower and middle achieving students, and a lot of teachers do not realize this when they include co-operative learning in their teaching.
A somewhat underused strategy for teaching mathematics is that of guided discovery. With this strategy, the student arrives at an understanding of a new mathematical concept on his or her own. An activity is given in which "students sequentially uncover layers of mathematical information one step at a time and learn new mathematics" (Gerver & Sgroi, 2003). This way, instead of simply being told the procedure for solving a problem, the student can develop the steps mainly on his own with only a little guidance from the teacher.
Throughout out this semester, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a better understanding when it comes to teaching Mathematics in the classroom. During the course of this semester, EDEL 440 has showed my classmates and myself the appropriate ways mathematics can be taught in an elementary classroom and how the students in the classroom may retrieve the information. During my years of school, mathematics has been my favorite subject. Over the years, math has challenged me on so many different levels. Having the opportunity to see the appropriate ways math should be taught in an Elementary classroom has giving me a