In Johnson's article, an analogy was made between a family farm and cooperative learning (Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 1998, p.2). The family farm reference struck me in particular because it reminded me of my own experience working for the family restaurant. My cultural background has been a lifelong lesson in family values, depending on each other, and learning to tolerate each other. In certain ways, it has shaped my behaviors and how I work in a group. Perhaps social upbringing is one factor that affects how a person perceives cooperative learning. In any case, this week's lesson also sheds light on what I do not know about working in a group.
The explanation of individual, competitive, and cooperative learning puts many of my past educational and professional experiences into perspective. I would advocate a healthy balance of all three types because there are advantages in each. In individual learning, a person learns to think and arrive at solutions independently. Competitive learning may enhance skills like being assertive and proactive. There is a definite need for cooperative learning. As humans, we are inately social creatures, evident in the way we build units like a family, community, and a country. But it needs to be done right. So I enjoyed the articles' focus on ways to make cooperative learning successful.
Millis (2002) gives excellent suggestions on how teachers can conduct a cooperative classroom, pointing out the need for positive interdependence, individual accountability, criterion referenced grading, and monitoring of group behaviors (Millis, 2002). Prior to implementing the system with students, teachers should understand how to assign groups, such as "considering issues of gender mix" (Haller, 2000, 11) and group size, and then how the group is conducted throughout the exercise. Support and training should be made available to teachers, if they are going to "model the appropriate social skills" and pass them onto the students.
Does cooperative learning translate into the professional world? Most likely. I think there are some careers that thrive on competitive edge, such as businesses being able to offer a product or service that would win over a client, while others fields, such as healthcare, depend on teamwork of doctors, nurses, and other specialists to save a patient's life. On the other hand, a business may have separate departments and teams contributing to the final product and a healthcare system may rely on business principles to promote itself above other providers. I feel that individualistic, competitive, and cooperative skills are frequently intertwined within an industry, though one may be more regarded than the other depending on the line of work.
When studying a foreign language, the ultimate goal is to learn to communicate with others in the language. Most parents and students insist on conversation skills as the highest priority, and cooperative learning may contribute to that goal. There was one Chinese language textbook that had grammar exercises called sentence buildup which introduced one character at a time to progressively build itself into a complete sentence. I called on each student to add a character to the sentence, in both verbal and written form. It became a natural group exercise as each student played a part in creating the final sentence. I think this activity can be recreated into a multimedia game. Even online flashcards have been very useful, especially those with the option to attach audio.
Starting Point, one of the resources this week, mentions role play. Coincidentally, it has been one of the exercises I've been contemplating for Chinese class. Last semester, a small individual role play project was assigned. Though the idea was acceptable, some issues did arise which prompted me to reconsider aspects of the project, such as assigning a topic instead of letting the students choose one themselves and providing more content for them to work with. Though I intended to offer students creative freedom with an open-ended topic, it had in fact overwhelmed them instead. With my newfound understanding of cooperative learning, I look forward to applying the proper techniques on an interactive role play project in the near future.
References:
Haller, C. R., Gallagher, V. J., Weldon, T. L., & Felder, R. M. (2000). Dynamics of peer education in cooperative learning workgroups. Journal of Engineering Education 89(3), 285-293.
Millis, B. J. (2002). Enhancing learning and more! Through cooperative learning. Manhattan, KS: The IDEA Center.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (1998). Cooperative learning returns To college: What evidence is there that it works? Change, 27-35.
Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience. http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/index.html
Your connection between one's social environment, working with your family and working cooperatively with a group is valid and deserves deeper discussion. The students are coming to us from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, and that will most definitely influence their social interactions. Every culture has individual norms plus families modify norms further.
ReplyDeleteSo while cooperative learning is valuable, your suggestion for balance is extremely important. I appreciate the medical example you used. Each healthcare worker must learn independently yet work together for the common well being of the patient. Knowledge and experience certainly have their benefits, but sometimes the essential component comes from an unexpected stakeholder -- an area of expertise who wasn't working with the group but was still able to make some major contributions.
Thank you for your thought-provoking reflection!
I appreciated your connection as it would relate to the real world. I think sometimes as adults, we must see how it could apply to use before it would apply to our students. By having the chance to see how it works in real-life, we can know how to implement for others. I think this could be a tricky approach and one that will require the patience and skill of including balance.
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