Collaborative Learning Testimonials

 (These items are from a listserv about teaching.)

Before my move to a faculty development position at the US Air Force Academy, I taught an upper-level English class, Children's Literature, to adult learners at the University of Maryland University College. A wide variety of students enrolled, many of them taking a course whose content interested them. Thus, few of them were English majors prepared for the rigor I expected. I used CL throughout the course, putting students in heterogeneous learning teams, consciously distributing males (in short supply!) and English majors. One of my favorite students was a very shy Vietnamese day care worker who was taking the course so that she could read more purposely to her charges. In a typical lecture-oriented class, she would have gone under because she lacked both the English language skills and the literature background to handle a junior-level course. However, her teammates were very supportive, and she pulled through with a respectable "C." On the evaluation form at the end of the course I recognized her handwriting with the comment, "In this class I have found true friends."

At the Air Force Academy where cadets are on a grueling academic, athletic, and military schedule, I substitute taught a session on library research. The cadets were to have watched a 10-minute orientation tape and read a chapter on research procedures in their handbook. This material, needless to say, was terribly dry. I devised a series of questions and ran a game called QUIZO based on a bingo format. I gave each pair of students a QUIZO card, a sheet to record their answers, and some M&M's to use as markers. After the cadets had an opportunity to record their answers, I had a student roll a die for the number and draw a card for the letter of the space to be filled. Those answering correctly could put an M&M on the space called. At the conclusion, I awarded candy bars to the pair(s) who got "QUIZO" (five spaces filled in a row) and allowed everyone to eat their markers. While exiting, one of the cadets paid me a great compliment at the Academy: "Hey, nobody fell asleep in class today!" If any of you are interested in a QUIZO game set, it can be purchased from a commercial firm. Unfortunately, I don't know which one. I got my set from its "inventor," Steve Sugar, whose home address is 9728 Byeford Road, Kensington, MD 20895. Phone: 301/949-1074.

Cooperatively yours,
Barbara J. Millis, Associate Director for Faculty Development
United States Air Force Academy HQ USAF/DFE, 2354 Fairchild Drive
Suite 4K25 USAF Academy, CO 80840-6200
Phone: 719-472-3976 FAX: 719-472-4255
millisbj%dfe%usafa@dfmail.usafa.af.

I too have had good results in using the collaborative teaching model. I am an adjunct at State Technical Institute at Memphis and teach Psychology. The coop model fits well with this subject. For instance, the class split up into 4 groups and were given the task of coming up with a diagnosis, plan of treatment(appropriate modalities), and prognosis. They were studying deviant behavior, major mental disorders, and treatment for mental disorders. They did remarkably well and all the groups were pretty much on target. Of course they were all very curious to know whom they had diagnosed, since I hinted that this person had once "met" Sigmund Freud. Unfortunately, modern education had again failed to teach my students about literature. None had ever heard of the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Seven-Percent Solution", referring to Holme's addiction to cocaine. Anyway, small group learning seems to be paying off some in my class.

Bruce Ree, BReedQMC@ aol.com

Ted asked for cooperative learning testimonials, and while I have no specific anecdotes to relate, I can attest to the fact that high school students enjoy cooperative group interaction over lecture/discussion and individualized seatwork. I am not about to abandon traditional methods of instruction; rather, I am striving to add cooperative learning to the arsenal of pedagogical approaches available to me. Since our school's initial training in cooperative techniques three years ago, (in tandem with interdisciplinary subject integration), I can say that the students I have encountered have had a higher level of interest, a more positive approach to dealing with the subject matter, and they have gained skills and grown in interpersonal relations in ways that cannot be measured by test scores or grade books. I am the first to recognize that cooperative learning is not without its shortcoming and disadvantages, but its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks.

Bring to this dynamic the technology of the Internet, and one develops an interesting, uncharted fashion of learning. Having students develop "team pages" for the World Wide Web, allowing students to analyze web and internet-based documents, or just allowing groups of students to examine the Internet and its resources: all of these make for learning and teaching methods never seen before in the "factory model" classroom of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cooperative learning will accelerate the extinction of this model, IMHO.

The effect here is that one begins to recreate in the classroom the atmosphere of the modern workplace. Team work, technology, and traditional methods (3 Ts?) all join together to develop young people into modern workers. Of course, the student must take advantage of the resources being made available to him or her. Yes, many will assert that cooperative learning is just the "group work" approach of the past two or three decades, but it can be reshaped to emphasize values such as negotiation, participation, and individual responsibility. It is up to the instructor to make sure that this atmosphere of learning is the classroom.

Resource: Spencer Kagan, _Cooperative Learning,_ 1993.
George Cassutto Teacher of Social Studies North Hagerstown High School (MD)
nhhs@fred.net

I have developed a cooperative learning unit that I've used in junior high, high school, community college, and lower division university geology classes. It teaches students the principles and strategies geologists must use when working for a mining company to explore for valuable metals. Overall student responses have been very encouraging. I've asked students to evaluate the simulation game in their journals and have included some of their responses below.

"The project itself in my opinion was fun. I felt like all of the material we had been covering in lab came together. Not only did the project help me understand how the material is applicable in reality, but also why learning the material is important. The material once learned seems to expand - I guess that when I was trying to be successful both making money and answering question (sic) correct and complete (sic), I felt like I had learned something and that what I learned may assist me outside the classroom."

"The mining simulation project synthesized the things we learned in lab in a more meaningful way than "typical" lecture or lab questions. It was definately (sic) fun, yet challenging and frustrating at times. The group worked well together, and we all shared ideas, strategies and jobs. The naming of the rocks and minerals was a practical way to test our memories and deductive reasoning. The initial drawing of the maps helped me understand how to plot and draw contour lines much better than the same activity in lab book. Although it wasn't exactly "reality" or "real life", it did give us some idea of the complexities of mining and what some of the considerations are. I was impressed by this project being a future teacher myself.

. . . Definately (sic) the quickest 3 hour class I've been to in a while!"

"I liked this project a lot. I learned what was intended to be learn (sic). It showed the many facets of mining including the government's role in the whole deal. I completely agree that learning should be fun and I'm glad to see you're not afraid to make it fun. I don't think this was an elementary school game like someone else said. You can still play learning/ teaching games in college!"

"I really enjoyed the lab this last two weeks. This lab was probably as close as it comes to being in the real world. This was valuable because we had to think when the pressure was on, and we were also learning how to identify rocks. This kind of project also made this class more fun and interesting. Up to this point the labs have been pretty difficult. Since most of us in this class don't know much about geology it was beneficial to work in groups. I had fun in my group. I did not even know Kevin, Trudy, or Amy's [fellow group members] name[s] before this project. This class is becoming so fun that I've told other students about this geology class and how fun it is."

"This was the most exciting lab session that I've ever had! Yes, it was fun! I enjoyed working in a group. I learned a lot without feeling too much pressure. I think the game format was helpful. . . . This project was similar to the real world because it helped me think about the environmental damage that occurs when we seek natural resources. . . . We could improve on communication. Stress affected our communication. . . . I enjoyed working in this group. There was a diversity of personalities."

The game is both challenging and fun to teach and has inspired me to continue to use cooperative learning and simulations in my classroom. P.S. I really liked the 3-year-old girl's reactions, Ted! I find that journals are a place for students to give similar, raw feedback as long as I am supportive with my written comments and create a haven for safe sharing.

Jeff Tolhurst, jwtolhu@univscvm.csd.sc.edu

I teach an introduction to leisure studies class at out university. This past quarter one of the chapters that we covered was gender, sex, sexuality, and leisure. A number of controversial issues were raised in this chapter. I selected three different issues and passed out sheets with those issues on them. They involved women in sports, the activities of fraternities, and the leisure of gays and lesbians. Each student was to select one area to write about. Their names were not to be placed on the papers. Then they were folded in half, placed in a bag and each person picked one. Students had to present the issue being discussed from the perspective of the person whose paper they had whether they were in agreement with the individual or not. The discussions on all three topics were lively. However, when we got to the topic of gays and lesbians, one of the students wrote about wanting to bash gays and lesbians and knock their teeth out and how they felt as if gay bashing was a leisure activity in and of itself. Several of the other papers presented on this issue took a different stance and wrote about how people should not have to have separate clubs or places to go to just because they are gay or lesbian. That discussion generated a series of entries in one students journal. This student shared with me that after class that day he was telling a friend of his about our discussion in class and espousing his position on gays and lesbians. His friend, who he told me he had known for three years, asked him if that is how he felt about him. He shared with me that he was shocked that this friend of his who had appeared so normal could be gay. Over the last several weeks, he has asked a number of questions about gays in his journal. He has also shared with me some of the conversations that he has been having with his friend as he is developing a friendship with this individual at another level. Through his journaling, the ongoing conversations with his friend, and his openness, this student has considerably changed his position. Most recently he wrote in his journal, "I have always known what it was like to be discriminated against. I have been picked up by police just because I am black, it is late, and I am out. They never saw me as an individual. They just say me as a black male. I guess I have seen gay people the same way -- all the same, just a group, not as people. I wonder how many more people that I know are gay? How many of them are afraid to tell me because I have made them afraid that I would hurt them?"

Sharon Jacobson
THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
DEPT OF RECREATION AND LEISURE STUDIES
HARDMAN HALL 2825 JEFFERSON ROAD ATHENS, GA 30602
JACOBSON@uga.cc.uga.edu

Active learning--be it cooperative or collaborative or whatever--is genuine learning. The studies and research tell us that. Where the student is the main agent, not the teacher may be difficult at first for the teacher who is trained to be center stage and for the student who is trained to be a passive listener. Students will learn better what they care about, what they can tie to their experience; they will remember better what they have brailled, touched, climbed through, smelled, felt. Learning is not a spectator sport. If students can apply the material to their lives, make what they are to learn a part of themselves, they will retain it. Students learn best by doing it because you may think you know, but don't know until you try it. When students are doing things and thinking about how to do thing they're doing, they are more apt to learn and retain. There a simple order of things. The lower of learning and of retention is the factual transmission through lecture--talking is not teaching and listening is not learning; the next higher order of learning is thinking is through discussion, the freer and less controlled by the teacher the better; the highest order is attitude and motivation.

Louis Schmier (912-333-5947)
lschmier@grits.valdosta.peachnet.edu
Department of History
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698

 

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