Edutopia - October/November 2008 - (Page 49)

and develop assessments to guide the learning process. That’s a tall order for even the most experienced teacher. To address these problems, Alice D. Gertzman and Janet L. Kolodner, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, introduced the concept of a design diary in 1996 to support eighthgrade science students in creating a solution for coastal erosion on a speci⇒c island off the coast of Georgia. Students had access to stream tables, as well as resources on videotape and the Internet. In a ⇒rst study conducted by Gertzman and Kolodner, learning outcomes were disappointing but instructive: The researchers noted that the teacher missed many opportunities to advance learning because she could not listen to all small-group discussions and decided not to have whole-group discussions. They also noted that the students needed more speci⇒c prompts for justifying design decisions. In a second study, the same researchers designed a broader system of tools that greatly improved the learning outcomes. These tools included more structured diary prompts asking for design explanations and the use of whole-class discussions at strategic moments. They also required students to publicly defend their designs earlier in the process. Requiring students to track and defend their thinking focused them on learning and connecting concepts in their design work. cial interaction, time on task, and positive feelings toward peers. Researchers say these social and self-concept measures were related to academic outcomes and that low-income students, urban students, and minority students bene⇒ted even more from cooperative group work, a ⇒nding repeated over several decades. But effective cooperative learning can be dif⇒cult to implement. Researchers identify at least three major challenges: developing group structures to help individuals work together, creating tasks that support useful cooperative work, and introducing discussion strategies that support rich learning. Productive Collaboration A great deal of work has been done to specify the kinds of tasks, accountability, and roles that help students collaborate well. In a summary of forty years of research on cooperative learning, Roger and David Johnson, at the University of Minnesota, identi⇒ed ⇒ve important elements of cooperation across multiple classroom models: • Positive interdependence • Individual accountability • Structures that promote face-to-face interaction reviewed research on productive small Powerful groups, focusing on inLearning ternal group interaction around tasks. She and her colleagues developed Complex Instruction, one of the best-known approaches, which uses carefully designed activities requiring diverse talents and interdependence among group members. Teachers pay attention to unequal participation, a frequent result of status differences among peers, and are given strategies to bolster the status of infrequent contributors. Roles are assigned to encourage equal participation, such as recorder, reporter, materials manager, resource manager, communication facilitator, and harmonizer. Studies identi⇒ed social processes that explain how group work supports individual learning, such as resolving differing perspectives through argument, explaining one’s thinking, observing the strategies of others, and listening to explanations. Big Ideas Good Signs Talented Teams Inquiry-based learning often involves students working in pairs or groups. Cooperative smallgroup learning—that is, students working together in a group small enough that everyone can participate on a collective task—has been the subject of hundreds of studies. All the research arrives at the same conclusion: There are signi⇒cant bene⇒ts for students who work together on learning activities. In one comparison by Zhining Qin, David Johnson, and Roger Johnson, of four types of categories for problems presented to individuals and cooperative teams, researchers found that teams outperformed individuals on all types and across all ages. Results varied by how well de⇒ned the problems were (a single right answer versus open-ended solutions, such as writing a story) and how much they relied on language. Several experimental studies have shown that groups outperform individuals on learning tasks and that individuals who work in groups do better on later individual assessments. Cooperative group work bene⇒ts students in social and behavioral areas as well, including improvement in student self-concept, so- Evidence shows that inquiry-based, collaborative approaches bene⇒t students in learning important twenty-⇒rst-century skills, such as Cooperative-learning approaches range the ability to work in teams, solve complex from simply asking students to help one an- problems, and apply knowledge from one lesother complete individually assigned problem son to others. The research suggests that inquisets, to having students collectively de⇒ne ry-based lessons and meaningful group work projects and generate a product that re⇓ects can be challenging to implement. They require the work of the entire group. Many approaches changes in curriculum, instruction, and asfall between these two sessment practices— ONLINEVIDEO extremes. changes that are ofPOWERFUL LEARNING In successful group ten new for teachers Hear Linda Darling-Hammond discuss learning, teachers pay and students. cooperative teaching at edutopia.org/darling-hammond-video careful attention to Teachers need time the work process and and a community to interaction among students. As Johns Hopkins organize sustained project work. Inquiry-based University’s Robert Slavin argues, “It is not instruction can help teachers deepen their repenough to simply tell students to work togeth- ertoire for connecting with their peers and er. They must have a reason to take one anoth- students in new and meaningful ways. That’s er’s achievement seriously.” Slavin developed powerful teaching and learning—for students a model that focuses on external motivators, and teachers alike. e such as rewards and individual accountabilAdapted from Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching ity established by the teacher. He found that for Understanding, a new book reviewing research on innovative group tasks with individual accountability classroom practices, by Linda Darling-Hammond, Brigid Barron, P. David Pearson, Alan H. Schoenfeld, Elizabeth K. Stage, Timothy D. Zimmerman, Gina N. Cervetti, and Jennifer L. Tilson, published produce stronger learning outcomes. in 2008 by Jossey-Bass. Published with support from The George Stanford University’s Elizabeth Cohen Lucas Educational Foundation. Available at www.amazon.com. • Social skills • Group processing EDUTOPIA.ORG EDUTOPIA 49 http://www.edutopia.org/darling-hammond-video http://www.amazon.com/Powerful-Learning-About-Teaching-Understanding/dp/0470276673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223656742&sr=1-1 http://www.EDUTOPIA.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - October/November 2008

Edutopia - October/November 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design: Lessons from the Mall The Bucks Start Here Go Global: Virgil Rocks Big Ideas: Powerful Learning Mapping Their Futures Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Suze Orman

Edutopia - October/November 2008

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