This week we looked at Cooperative Learning as an instructional strategy for social learning. I think it works well for multimedia projects such as video where smaller groups can work on the various parts of the project and then bring it all together in much less time than would be possible for individual students. The main thing you have to be careful with for this type of activity is to clearly define the roles of each group and each student within the group so that everyone is contributing. We need to “help students understand what is expected of them and how their participation will be evaluated.” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007, p.141)
Cooperative Learning also works well for Web Quests, because the group members can research parts on their own and then bring them back to share with the other members of the group. Taking this to the next step with technology would be having the students share their findings with the other groups using a blogs, wikis or even a chat room. That way they could post the links where they found their information with the others so they would have access to the information for themselves.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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John,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that cooperative learning is a great way to untilize Webquests. Students seem to really enjoy these projects especially when they are able to interact with one another.
Matt
Matt,
ReplyDeleteThey really enjoy being able to show the others where and how they found their information or what method they used to present something. They are always sharing little tricks and tips with each other and the class as a whole.
John
It now seems like common sense, but I had never thought of having students post their findings from the webquests on a blog or wiki. Great idea! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI agree that students' roles need to be defined clearly. With my first graders, I need to make my expectations very clear when allowing them to work in groups. I think how we "set up the assignemnt as teachers, determines its success!
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