Cooperative Learning Games

Educators often neglect the concept of cooperation. When students learn only how to satisfy their own individual learning goals, they fail to recognize the value of helping one another to succeed. In the real world, people cannot afford to ignore the needs of their coworkers and neighbors. Thus, children need encouragement to coordinate their efforts in appropriate ways and for appropriate reasons. Cooperative learning games let children know that the learning process can be fun if it's a shared experience.

Cooperative Memorization

This game requires students to broadcast information, receive information and repeat information. The best time to play this game is on the first day of school, in order to help students learn about each other. Call on one student to state his name, and to introduce himself in a couple of sentences. Next, call on a second student seated beside the first to state the name of the first student, plus his own. He will also introduce himself. Then choose a third student to state the names of the other two and his own, plus a short introduction. The game continues until you challenge the last student in the class to state the names of everyone present. This game combines basic memory skills with complex memory skills to help students tackle a wealth of information. You can also use it to introduce students to new vocabulary or other material.

Big Fat Liar

This game allows students to showcase their storytelling powers (see references). Choose four students to stand before their class, and allow each to tell a brief story filled with descriptive details. Upon picking these four students, discreetly provide each of them with a slip of paper that simply says "Truth" or "Lie." These slips let each speaker know whether his story should be factual or fictional in nature. Only one of the four should be given a slip that says "Lie." The four students shouldn't show these slips to anyone else, not even fellow speakers. As each student tells his story, fellow students should try to determine whether or not he's the liar. After all stories have been told, poll the class and record results on an overhead projector or blackboard.

Write a Test

Allowing students to write a test together helps them to practice valuable critical thinking skills. Teach them to construct test questions that will both pique the interest of their fellow classmates and evaluate the depth of their knowledge. You can divide students into groups, each of which will develop a different type of questions, such multiple-choice, true/false or essay format.

What Has Changed?

Attention to detail plays an essential role in mastering new educational concepts. To help students develop an eye for detail, play a game in which you alter small details within a room, picture or even a text, and the students must decide what has been changed. The game uses the same concept as the "Hocus-Focus" feature in the funny pages (see references). First, ask all of your students to observe details within the room. Next, ask them to put their heads on their desks and cover their eyes. Then change the position of a single object within the room, such as a chalkboard eraser. The change should be neither major nor so minor that it will never be noticed. Finally, tell your students to lift their heads up and look around. Ask them to raise their hands if they know what has changed.
You can also play this game with literature. Read a couple of paragraphs to familiarize students with a piece of work, then carry on with regular class business. After 30 minutes, read the paragraphs again, except in a slightly altered format. Ask the students to identify the changes.

One Minute to Team Up

Tests should not only assess your students' comprehension of information, but also provide evidence of their abilities to recall and arrange this information. Students don't necessarily need testing in isolation to demonstrate these capabilities. One way to let your students work together during a test is to permit them to freely exchange information for a single minute. Do this close to the end of a testing period. Emphasize your reasons for letting them work together cooperatively. Ask the students to tell you why this differs from cheating. Letting them know they can work together for a single minute will help to calm worried students who may normally suffer from test anxiety. Plus, you will indirectly teach your students how to make the most of their time by giving them this opportunity to communicate during a brief window of time.

References

• 103.7 Lite FM: Big Fat Liar
• King Features: Hocus-Focus