How to Plan and Teach a Cooperative Learning Lesson

The trend in modern education is moving toward lessons that are highly student-centric, interactive, peer-supported, and group-based. Studies have shown that students learn better in a peer-based group environment as opposed to one in which they work individually, and listen to their teacher lecture. Cooperative learning may serve to improve students' problem solving and creative thinking skills, as well as interpersonal and communication skills, all of which help them to become team players, and all of which is highly sought after by employers.

Students learn how to function in a particular group role, and learn responsibly so as not to let their group members down. As groups are rearranged between lessons, students can practice and benefit from being on both sides of the tutor-tutee relationship. Students also benefit from being forced to interact with other students that they would normally avoid, ostracize, or even fight with.

With that said, there is tremendous debate as to the merits of cooperative learning. Many traditionalists feel that our nation's children are incapable of sitting still, reading, listening, and performing tasks on their own, and that cooperative learning only serves to delay and/or avoid developing those skills. There is evidence to support both sides of the argument, and many people have strong feelings one way or the other.

This article offers steps for planning and teaching a cooperative learning lesson. Such a lesson may be more suited for the subjects of math or science, but certainly can be adapted to others. The lesson can be taught in a regular classroom setting, in an after-school program, or in a homeschooling group. The topic of cooperative learning tends to generate more questions and options than it does answers and strict procedures, and this article reflects as much.

Instructions

1. 

   The first step is to determine if you have the logistical means to conduct a cooperative learning lesson. No matter what model you follow, and what particular lesson, you will need to have your students working together in some capacity. If you have a class in which students range in ability level from 3rd grade to 10th, it will be very difficult and impractical to arrange them into groups. This dichotomy is much more common than one would think, and it is usually not best to have homogeneous groups in which students are grouped by ability level, described below.

   You'll also need to take into consideration the maturity level and behavior patterns of your students. Are both such that they can handle group work? Conducting a cooperative learning lesson requires the full cooperation of the class. If your class is out of control, where students come in late and leave early and are frequently absent, you will not be able to do this. It is unfortunate that this scenario is quite commonplace, and I am in no way implying that such conditions are the teacher's fault.

   Students also need to possess the compassion required to work with mainstreamed special ed students, students with special physical, mental, or emotional needs, as well as with English language learners.

2. 

   Assuming you have the necessary conditions to conduct a cooperative learning lesson, you have many things to consider. You will first need to determine how many students will comprise a group. The most common number is four, but there are situations for which anywhere between two and six are appropriate. The lesson itself will dictate your decision. It is likely that your class will not divide evenly by whatever number your choose, so be prepared to have some groups with one fewer or additional student. You'll need to think about how you will handle absenteeism in the case of a lesson that spans multiple days.

3. 

   Think about how you will arrange the classroom furniture. A common method is to arrange groups of four into what are called "pods." This will result in students being in very close proximity to each other, and you'll need to determine if this is wise. Your students may simply not be mature enough to be face-to-face with each other. In some cases this can lead to various forms of social giddiness or awkwardness, especially in the cases of younger students and adolescents, respectively.

4. 

   Think about whether your groups are to be homogeneous or heterogeneous. These terms refer to whether you will form your groups such that members specifically share or do not share many common attributes. For example, one could argue that it is best to group students by ability level, so that groups can work at their own level. One could also argue that students should be grouped by gender to avoid issues of adolescent hormones or interpersonal relationship issues interfering with the lesson. The prevailing advice is to group students in a heterogeneous manner which implies group diversity in every sense of the word.

5. 

   Think about what the duration of your lesson will be. It may be possible to conduct a cooperative learning lesson that only takes one period, but it is more common to arrange a lesson that will take place over the course of many days. This typically manifests itself in the form of a complex, multi-part project which comes together little by little each day. What you want to avoid is turning a cooperative learning lesson into simple group work or individual work completed within a study circle.

6. 

   Think about what your role as teacher will be. Almost certainly the first part of the lesson will be to introduce the topic, the background knowledge required, and instructions for how the groups are to proceed. This may take just a few minutes, or as long as an entire period. While the students are broken up into groups, you will need to continuously circulate around the room, offering help, checking to see group members are functioning well together, ensuring that no student is "piggybacking" off of another, and so forth. At the end of the lesson you will probably coordinate and observe presentations that the groups will make to the class, discussed below.

7. 

   Think about how to best implement the lesson topic. One popular technique is known as the Jigsaw Method. Each student in a group is charged with the task of becoming an expert in something particular, perhaps the use of a formula or procedure. In order to complete the group project, each student must share his/her knowledge with his/her groupmates. The project must be rigged so that it is not possible for each student to simply work individually and independently.

8. 

   An alternative and perhaps better approach is to assign specific group roles to each student which they carry out in an effort to solve a lengthy, multi-step problem that requires creative thinking, and which may be solvable by various methods, such as algebraic, geometric, or even the results of experimental data. One group role might the "checker," who is responsible for checking the accuracy of his/her classmates' work. Another might be the "facilitator," who works to coordinate the group's efforts. Another role might be "researcher," who works to obtain the necessary information to solve the problem.

   Other roles might be "data recorder / chart maker" who will prepare the materials that will be used by the student who plays the role of the "presenter," who will later present the group's accomplishments to the class. There are many more possible roles, and certainly students should not always be assigned the same role for each cooperative learning lesson. Group members should be encouraged to constantly monitor their group's progress, and assess how they are each performing in their roles and as a cohesive unit.

9. 

   Think about how you will grade your students. This is extremely challenging, and requires a lot of clever finagling on your part. You want your groups to have a sink-or-swim-together mentality. If students know that the group work doesn't actually matter, they won't function well within their roles. Conversely, it is reasonable for a student to get angry if his/her grade was lowered as a result being assigned to a group of lazy or low-functioning classmates. What is usually best is to assign a group grade which won't count as much as individual grades that are based on the students' individual contributions to the group (i.e., individual accountability). You'll need to remind students that they will still be responsible for regular individual exams, whose grades count most of all.

10. 

    The lesson will typically end with each group making a presentation to the class. It is ideal if not every group used the same method and techniques to solve the assigned problem, and even more ideal if some groups solved it by way of some creative method, perhaps in the process even discovering important connections to previously-taught or yet-to-be-taught material. Groups should evaluate each other's presentations, ask questions, compare methods, and be supportive of one another.

11. 

    These are the main steps to consider when planning a cooperative learning lesson. It is quite a major undertaking, and any teacher who successfully conducts such a lesson is to be highly commended. Good luck!

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