Cooperative Learning: A Way to Bring Positive Outcomes in Teaching Learning Process

As we all know that teaching learning is a process in which teachers and students both engage to achieve the desire learning out comes. In the words of Christensen, Garvin & Sweet, “To teach is to engage students in Learning” however the engagement of students is possible in various ways.

It has been observed that usually some teachers have suitable subject knowledge and few of them have good command over their teaching subject but how to present in an effective manner, often missed out. One of the concerns is that many school teachers use traditional way of teaching as they think the course content cannot be finished otherwise; on the other hand there are quite a few numbers of teachers who believe that using innovative approaches during class certainly help students to develop their taught concepts accordingly. Also ensure that students confidently communicate their ideas with their colleagues.

However the major challenge is that the out comes of teaching learning process is not up to the mark and still they felt that how to engage them directly in the process where autonomy lies on the shoulders of the students and teachers perform their role as a facilitator. It is therefore suggested by the educational institution authorities and school management to address the issue by designing and arranging a short course for the teachers on Cooperative learning.(where heart meets mind) which further enable teachers to overcome the deficiency thereby reducing the possibility of inadvertent error and unjust among the students achievement.”

Strategies

• Think-Pair-Share:

A problem is posed; students think alone about the question for a specified amount of time, and then form pairs to discuss the question with someone in the class, usually a team-mate. During the share time, students are called upon to share with the class as a whole.

• Round Robin:

Students take turns stating answers or ideas without recording them. Round Robin can be used with children too young to write or when participation rather than a product is the goal.

• Jigsaw:

Each student on the team specializes in one aspect of the learning unit and in turn meets with students from other teams with the corresponding aspect. After mastering the material each return to the team to teach his/her team mates. There are multiple Jigsaw variations.

• Trade A Problem:

Each student on a team makes up a review problem and writes it on a flashcard. The side of the card with the question is marked with a “Q”; the side of the card with the answer is marked with an “A”. Teams simply trade problems with another team.