Journey Summary
This session engages you in a cooperative learning experience and demystifies the approach by breaking it down into its four elements and closely examining each. At the end of the session, you will outline a cooperative learning experience to use in your classroom.
Curriculum-framing Questions
Essential Question
- What makes a community?
Unit Questions
- How can students work effectively in groups?
Content Questions
- What is cooperative learning?
- How does cooperative learning differ from group work?
- What are the elements of an effective cooperative activity?
- How might cooperative activities be structured to ensure success?
- What are strategies for team building in a cooperative activity?
- What are strategies for managing cooperative groups?
Introduction
Creating a community of learners is one of the tenets of the eMINTS Instructional Model. A community of learners relies on social interaction among learners, one of the fundamental principles of the Constructivist learning theory. Cooperative learning is one method we as teachers can utilize to integrate social interaction into class practice; however, for students to successfully interact in cooperative groups, we must first structure our classrooms and lessons for cooperation and collaboration.
Theory Behind Practice
All eMINTS materials are grounded in research-based best practices in K-12 education.
Digging Deeper
Agenda
- Opener:
- Option 1 – Duct Tape Trains
- Option 2 – Emoji Stories
- Inside the Fishbowl
- Structures for the Classroom
- Visualizing Social Skills
- Cooperation in Your Classroom
- Closer: One Word Closer
Classroom Visit w/Students
Ask your facilitator to visit and observe students during the cooperative-learning activity planned during the session. Afterward, have a reflecting conversation with your facilitator to discuss the experience.
Classroom Visit w/out Students
Discuss your plan for your cooperative-learning experience. Review grouping strategies as well as team-building activities. Share what cooperative-learning strategies you plan to implement and how they will be used to increase collaboration and learning.
Images Courtesy of