H3- Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning
Reading about cooperative learning drew a stark connection to the H3 standard of fostering a “classroom/school community as a milieu for learning”. This standard addresses being able to promote knowledge and skills for working with others. This is the epitome of cooperative learning. Dean et al. discusses five elements to the cooperative learning model. Those that stood out to me most were “individual and group accountability” as well as “interpersonal and small-group skills” (p. 36). These ideas feed off of each other and they coincide with teaching students how to be effective and productive members of a group.
The first step in creating an effective cooperative learning environment is creating groups within the classroom. With regard to group size, the smaller the better. This will harness accountability from each member to contribute ideas and information for the good of the group. Groups larger than five give way to the bystander effect or the idea that individuals will depend on others to do work or take action and instead, will sit back and not take part in the activity.
While tutoring in a middle school math class this year, I observed a classroom layout that successfully promoted both cooperative and individual learning. The classroom arrangement is below.
The teacher gives a quick lecture about the day’s topic and hands out a work sheet with examples that start off straightforward and progress to be more challenging. Students are able to work informally with their classmates on learning the information. When they have questions, they discuss with their peers before consulting either the teacher or myself. This fosters successful people skills, teaches the students to clearly communicate what they are struggling with and teaches them that it is ok to ask their peers clarifying questions. The arrangement also allows for social interaction for the students. They are able to talk and socialize so long as they remain on task. They also get to work with different students when the teacher changes their seats. The students end up interacting with most of the class and they learn how to work with different personalities and types of people.
I would plan on implementing a similar seating arrangement in my own classroom in order to promote cooperative learning. Not only is the classroom a place to learn specific information, in my case, mathematics, but as an educator I would also like to promote a community within my classroom. Once community is established, students can take more risks with their education and feel comfortable doing so.
Dean, Ceri, et. al. Classroom Instruction that Works. ASCD: 2012.
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