Ten Cooperative Learning Techniques for Building Classroom Communities 2010 AMATYC Conference Mark Colgan, Taylor University, Upland, IN
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“Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part.” ~Casey Stengel “None of us is as smart as all of us.” ~Ken Blanchard http://www.quotegarden.com/teamwork.html
Ten Cooperative Learning Techniques* (Before the session begins, please go ahead and begin filling out your Group Resume.) 1. Group Resume (15 min.) Step 1: Find the Group Resume on your table. Step 2: Fill in each person’s name and special characteristics as you get to know one another and begin to think about the benefits of working together as a group. Be as creative as you can with your answers. Step 3: Share the results with the whole group (you may vote on which group has the most creative resume). Advantages/Disadvantages of Group Resume:
2. Think-Pair-Share (10 min.) Step 1: By yourself, Think of some answers to the question: “What are some positive benefits to using cooperative learning (group work or collaborative learning) in your college classroom?” and write them down here: 1. 2. 3. 4. Step 2: Pair up with someone next to you, and discuss your answers. Step 3: Share your results with the rest of the class. Advantages/Disadvantages of Think-Pair-Share:
3. Randomly Selecting Group Members, e.g., Jigsaw Match-Ups (5 min.) Step 1: Observe your puzzle piece, which is a piece of a picture related to one of Chickering & Gamsons’ 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (Richlin, p. 55, 113). Step 2: Find the others in the class who have matching pieces to form your group. Step 3: Together sit down at the appropriate table where your picture relates to the corresponding Principle for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, and tape your picture to the blue poster board. Advantages/Disadvantages of Randomly Selecting Group Members:
4. Co-op & Assigning Roles (15 min.) Step 1: Assign each person in your group a role to play during your discussion: 1) Facilitator, 2) Recorder, 3) Reporter/Spokesperson, and 4) Timekeeper. Step 2: Discuss in your group ways to implement your assigned principle in your college classroom. (For example, Group 1 will talk about ways to promote student-faculty contact.) As a group, see if you can use the acrostic CRAFTED to memorize the list. The 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (Richlin, p.55, 113): C 1. Student-faculty Contact R 2. CoopeRation among students A 3. Active learning F 4. Prompt Feedback T 5. Time on task E 6. High Expectations D 7. Diverse ways of learning respected. Step 3: Teach the class your assigned principle and ways it can be implemented. Advantages/Disadvantages of Co-op & Assigning Roles:
5. Round Table & Random Reporting (10 min.) Step 1: One person in your group should briefly state an answer to the following question and write it down in abbreviated form on a piece of paper: “What is something an instructor might do on the first day of class to build community?” Refrain from evaluating answers. Step 2: Pass the paper clockwise (left) and have the next student add an answer. Step 3: Continue until everyone has had a chance to answer at least once. If time, keep going. Students may be allowed to say “pass” only once. Step 4: Randomly choose a group and/or student to share a favorite group answer. Advantages/Disadvantages of Round Table and Random Reporting:
6. Group Competition (5 min.) Step 1: Discuss the answer in your group to this question: “If Ron deposited $4 per day every day for 50 years in an account paying 8% compounded daily, how much money would he have after 50 years?” Step 2: Write the answers on the board. Step 3: Whichever group is closest to the answer wins (often at the end of the lesson). • • •
What is the probability you will land on free parking if you are currently visiting jail? If you have 3 children, what is the probability of having all 3 girls? Is 0.9999…=1? Yes, no, or maybe?
Advantages/Disadvantages of Group Competition:
7. Hang-man Games (5 min.) Step 1: Write the missing blanks on the board for a quotation, definition, or term. Step 2: Take turns by group calling out a letter. Step 3: Only when a group correctly guesses a letter can they guess the puzzle. After reviewing over 500 research studies, McKeachie and his colleague were asked what the most effective teaching method is, and they said, “It depends on the goal, the student, the content, and the teacher—but the next best answer is, ‘-------- -------- ----- --------.’” (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2005, p.16) One radian is the measure of a ------- ----- that intercepts an arc equal in length to the ------ of the circle. Advantages/Disadvantages of Hang-man Games:
8. Jigsaw (15 min.) Step 1: Move into “expert” groups (in the four corners of the room) where you will study one new Cooperative Learning Technique listed below (9a, 9b, 9c, or 9d) and prepare to teach the main ideas of this technique to other students. Think of an example of how you might use this technique in a college class, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of your technique. Step 2: Later move from your “expert” group to new “jigsaw” groups where each student in the new group is an expert on a different topic and will teach the topic to the others. (Note: the number of “expert” groups you have will match the number of topics you want to study, probably 3-5 topics. Then you take one person from each “expert” group to make the new “jigsaw” groups.) Advantages/Disadvantages of Jigsaw:
9a. Talking Chips Step 1: Prepare a key discussion question or series of questions for the students. Step 1: Form groups and give each student 3 to 5 tokens of some kind. Step 2: Each time students comment, they surrender a chip. Advantages/Disadvantages of Talking Chips:
9b. Note-Taking Pairs Step 1: Students individually take notes from a lecture, reading assignment, or homework assignment. Step 2: In pairs, Student A summarizes the main points from a section and Student B gives added suggestions. Step 3: Then Student B summarizes the next section and Student A gives added suggestions. Advantages/Disadvantages of Note-Taking Pairs:
9c. Fishbowl Step 1: Ask 3 to 5 students to form an inner circle inside the classroom. Step 2: Have the remaining students form an outer circle around the inner circle. Step 3: Only the inner circle students speak and discuss a key question or series of questions while the outer circle observes. Step 4: Conduct a whole-class discussion on the content and on group processes. Advantages/Disadvantages of Fishbowl:
9d. Send a Problem Step 1: Distribute a different problem in a folder to each group for them to generate possible solutions. Step 2: After a certain amount of time, groups pass their problem and solutions on to the next group. Step 3: Without looking at the previous group’s solutions, they also generate possible solutions to this new problem. Repeat as many times as appropriate. Step 4: At the final rotation, groups review the various solutions and report to the whole class the results. Advantages/Disadvantages of Sending a Problem:
10. Buzz Groups (10 min.) Step 1: In quickly formed groups, discuss the following: What was your favorite Cooperative Learning Technique we did in this session? What might you try in your class? What questions do you have about cooperative learning? Step 2: Share your results with the larger class. Advantages/Disadvantages of Buzz Groups:
Other Ideas for Building Classroom Community 1. First Day of Class Activities Students share a few things about themselves including the coordinates of their home town, and we try to guess the name of the town. Since this takes a while, I also give them a sheet of number puzzles (see below) to work on, which demonstrates how every number is interesting (a topic in the textbook). I work hard to learn their names through the introductions. 2. Using Student Names One of my daughter's high school teachers is known for shaking every student's hand every day. I decided to try saying every student's name at least once during every class session. Students also enjoy seeing their names on quiz and test problems. 3. Group Projects I have tried various kinds of projects in my math courses, all of which are open-ended and allow students to demonstrate their creativity while interacting with the mathematics. They typically involve something for each person in the group to find or solve, a written paper, and a short 5-minute presentation. 1) Group Teaching Project—students prepare a lesson and teach the class one of the topics in the general education course: infinity, golden rectangle, symmetry, Platonic solids, 4th dimension, fractals, chaos, etc. 2) Creative Project—students apply the mathematics to an area of their interest or expertise and write a song or poem, create a scrap book or children's story, make a game or picture, etc. 3) Data Collection Projects—students collect data on a research question of their interest and summarize using appropriate statistics, or students research buying a house and car and summarize the financial decisions (such as the savings from a 15-year over a 30-year mortgage). 4) In calculus classes, I often give 3 projects: a finance project working with exponential growth, a rollercoaster project working with derivatives, and a max-min project working with resources. If you would like to know more, please send me an e-mail and I would be happy to send you a copy.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Many of the ideas for this presentation came from: Barkley, E.F.; Cross, K.P.; & Major, C.H. (2005). Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. USA: Jossey-Bass. Rubenstein, R.N.; Beckmann, C.E. & Thompson, D.R. (2004). Teaching and Learning Middle Grades Mathematics. USA: Key College Publishing. Richlin, L. (2006). Blueprint for Learning: Constructing College Courses to Facilitate, Assess, and Document Learning. USA: Stylus Publishing.
Every Number is Interesting Math Puzzle Sample: 12 = M. in a Y. Answer: 12 = Months in a Year Source: Unknown 1.
12 = M. in a Y.
25.
36 = I. in a Y.
2.
26 = L. of the A.
26.
6 = W. of H. the E.
3.
7 = W. of the W.
27.
212 = D. at which W.B.
4.
1001 = A.N.
28.
3 = P. for a F.G. in F.
5.
12 = S. of the Z.
29.
20 = Y. that R.V.W.S.
6.
54 = C. in a D. (with the J.)
30.
101 = D.
7.
9 = P. in the S.S.
31.
60 = S. in a M.
8.
88 = P.K.
32.
7 = H. of R.
9.
13 = S. on the A.F.
33.
56 = S. of the D. of I.
10.
32 = D.F. at which W.F.
34.
5 = F. on the H.
11.
18 = H. on a G.C.
35.
40 = T. (with A.B.)
12.
90 = D. in a R.A.
36.
30 = D.H.S.A.J. and N.
13.
200 = D. for P.G. in M.
37.
1 = D. at a T.
14.
8 = S. on a S.S.
38.
10 = A. in the B. of R.
15.
3 = B.M. (S.H.T.R.)
39.
435 = M. of the H. of R.
16.
4 = Q. in a G.
40.
16 = O. in a P.
17.
24 = H. in a D.
41.
31 = I.C.F. at B.R.
18.
1 = W. on a U.
42.
50 = C. in a H.D.
19.
5 = D. in a Z.C.
43.
2 = T.D. (and a P. in a P.T.)
20.
57 = H.V.
44.
4 = H. of the A.
21.
11 = P. on a F.T.
45.
13 = C. in a S.
22.
1000 = W. that a P. is W.
46.
8 = P. of S. in the E.L.
23.
29 = D. in F. in a L.Y.
47.
20,000 = L.U. the S.
24.
64 = S. on a C.B.
48.
9 = I. in a B.
Scope and Nature of Presentation: Participants will experience ten cooperative learning techniques (fun group activities) that can be adapted to any math class. One of the main points of the presentation is that by using group work and active learning, we can help build a classroom community where students are comfortable to learn effectively. The presentation will follow the analogy that when you go to a smorgasbord, you sometimes take a little bit of each item to see what you like. Then you can go back for more later. In this presentation we will sample several techniques that can be used in the math classroom, and hopefully all participants will experience something they can use in their classrooms.
