Cooperative Learning Teachning Strategies

Mary Al-Saleh, GWCC
Frieda Muwakkil, GWCC

Have you ever wondered what you could do with your teaching strategies to produce higher achievement, increase motivation to learn, and establish more positive relationships among students? Well, we wondered too. Our natural curiosity led us to many workshops and conferences over the past two years. These learning situations dealt with the concept of cooperative learning. Cooperative learning has been around for a long time, but the idea of working in a group and caring about group members' success is a new and challenging dilemma for all classroom instructors. Group success is the key to cooperative learning teaching strategies.

Part of the process of changing the paradigm from lecture format to cooperative format is knowing and understanding how to structure lecture content and group activities. Through careful planning of an in-class activity, the instructor acts as the "guide on the side," while the students take more responsibility in their learning. The in-class activities are packed with purpose and direction. Cooperative learning activities are structured and should take into account the critical concept of Positive Interdependence. Positive Interdependence is the cornerstone of the cooperative classroom. The concept is built on the premise of "we instead of me" or "all for one and one for all." The teacher constructs the cooperative learning activity to account for the following positive interdependence goals as adapted from Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (1987):

Task: Thought of as the division of labor, each group member is responsible for a specific part of the group task and must complete it in order for each member to fulfill his/her individual responsibility.
Identity: The group establishes its own identity through a name, slogan or song.
Resource: Members of the group have a specific piece of information, and must combine their "shared information" with each other in order to meet the group goal.
Environment: The group is "connected" to the physical environment in some way, for example the same classroom and time each week.
Duty (role): Each group member has an assigned role with specific responsibilities that the group must have in order to complete the task.
Fantasy: A task that expects the group members to imagine situations which compel them to collaborate with each other in order to survive, for example life or death situation in a clinical area.
Reward: A mechanism for celebrating the group's success, the accomplishment of the group goal.
Outside enemy: Groups are placed in competition with each other, each group strives to beat the other.
Goal: Mutual goals that all group members are working towards.

What we have done in our beginning nursing class is to structure group interdependence activities.

Prior to the initiation of the first class meeting, the room environment is structured to enhance cooperative learning activities. Tables are arranged to seat groups of three to four students. Walking space is provided between the tables. The instructor has fluid access to all students and is not pinned down to one location at the front of the class.

At the first class meeting of the semester, we structured a cooperative activity designed to bring the class together as a group. We call this activity an:

Icebreaker

Students were given a 3x5 card and the instructor illustrated what information should be placed on the card. Students were to fill out their cards with the following information: name, nursing goal, best personal quality, and birthplace. Students then filled out their cards and pinned them to their clothing. They were given 1-2 minutes to introduce themselves to each other at their tables.

Social Skills

The next activity we introduced was designed to further build on the group interdependence and the development of social skills necessary to be an effective team member, which ultimately transcends the classroom into the workplace.

To enhance group social skills, students participated in the following activity. Students were given a push pin and told to go to the wall map and locate their home town. They had 3-5 minutes for this activity. What we observed from this activity was increased student interaction and bonding. Students shared information about themselves to others whose push pins were outside of the U.S. boundaries and this led to a discussion about cultural diversity.

This activity provided an opportunity for students to meet other students that they normally would not have met. It also took the individual competitiveness out of the classroom, and made it more "group friendly."

The Process Continues...

Each class meeting is carefully structured to promote positive interdependence. What we have observed from our nursing students is that the positive interdependence continues outside of the classroom. We have students who strategize to meet babysitting needs, homework activities, car pool to various clinical sites, etc. This process evolved over a period of 6 to 7 weeks. Initially it was difficult for the students to buy into the cooperative learning concepts. We had comments like "I feel like I'm back in grade school..." or "so and so isn't pulling her weight in the group." Part of our challenge was and is to structure activities that keep the social skill building process ongoing as well as to promote problem solving from within the group. We continue to reassess the class as a whole, in order to eliminate the potential for group breakdown and ineffective group members by utilizing the Group Observation Form.

The Group Observation Form provides the instructor with the opportunity to evaluate both the group as a whole and the contribution of each member. The evaluation of the group's performance is then shared with the group members. The instructor comments on the positive social skills of the group and makes recommendations for continued group development.

The Labyrinth-Forum: Winter 1996

Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI)
Maricopa County Community College District

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