Cooperative Learning Groups

I currently co-teach a Biology class in which we use cooperative learning (lab) groups at least once per week.  We have various methods of grouping students (groups are typically 3-4 students):

-heterogeneously grouped lab groups (teacher chosen)

-randomly chosen groups:

• students pick names from a jar
•  students count off 1-4
• students match puzzle pieces 

 -homogeneous/heterogeneous groups/partners chosen by students (we find that typically students get a lot less accomplished when they choose their own groups or partner!)

I feel that, when grouped heterogeneously, students tend to be more interested and invested in learning.  Each member of the group is accountable independently as well as on a group level.  We don;t typically assign roles to each student in the group but they kind of take on that role themselves.  The downside to cooperative learning groups is the noise and those few students that constantly need to be prompted back to task.  How do you deal with this?

Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers

This chapter was really interesting and made me think about how/how often I am questioning my students.  As a Special Education teacher, I feel that the "higher-order thinking" questions should be asked a lot more than they are.  A lot of our students are unable to effectively interpret and analyze data or information.  This skill is imperative for success at this level in regards to MCAS, SAT's, College...ect.  


Activating prior knowledge is something that I've found to be extremely helpful for my classes...I've noticed that a lot of students just need that "little something extra" to help them understand a new concept and connect that concept to prior knowledge.  I've personally never tried a word splash, though I've heard that they work well.  Typically we start with a class discussion and some sort graphic organizer followed by a visual or tactile activity (youtube, coloring, modeling...).  


On another note...I feel that Analytic skills should be explicitly taught to students especially if they are lacking such a skill.  

Definition of Analytic Skills

Analyzing Errors: Identifying and articulating errors in the logic of information.

Constructing Support: Constructing a system of support or proof for an assertion.

Analyzing Perspectives: Identifying and articulating personal perspectives about issues.

 (page 116: Figure 10.2)

April: Cooperative Learning

The topic this month is cooperative learning. Feel free to continue discussing the topic in March during the month as well. The chapter on cooperative learning really emphasizes the importance of using cooperative learning as an instructional strategy, albeit sparingly. The authors state that based on research, group strategies should be utilized about once per week. At the same time, the authors also stress that groups should be made based on different criteria and not necessarily ability level. Research indicates that students of low-level ability who are paired with other low-level ability students, do not perform the way they should and the instructional strategy is not effective. Finally, the authors stress keeping group sizes to 3 or 4 students per group.


The authors examine three different categories when it comes to grouping: informal, formal, and base. Personally, the most effective informal grouping activity is a Think-Pair-Share in which the students are asked to select a different partner each time. For formal groups, I typically group the students randomly while making sure that students of low-level ability are always working with a student of high-level ability. There are some awesome websites out there that will generate groups randomly. For example: http://www.transum.org/Software/RandomStudents/ works well and also saves your class rosters. There are other websites that allow the students to pick team names which helps bring a slight competitive atmosphere to the group work. 


Another strategy I've found to be effective is assigning group roles to ensure that students are held accountable and that each student in the group is contributing in a different way. I distribute cards such as the ones here to the students randomly and make sure that they are all responsible for separate work. 





Please share your own methods for selecting groups as well as how you ensure that students are held accountable when working in cooperative learning groups.