 Cooperative groups in action
 In classrooms
In schools
 What do cooperative lesson plans look like?
Cooperative groups in action
In classrooms
|
At the Alternative Community School in Ithaca, New York, teacher Dan Flerlage uses collaborative-learning techniques in his science classes. In Part 1 of this video clip, he talks about the importance of planning and communicating what group-work skills he will evaluate the students on. In Part 2, one of his students, Molly Miller, describes what she's gotten out of collaborative learning and why she thinks it's been helpful to her.
|
|
|
At P.S. 200 in Brooklyn, science teacher Janet Torkel's students collaborate on a lesson about pollution with a class in Cleveland using teleconferencing. In Part 1 of the video clip, the students are clearly engaged and excited about using the new technology to collaborate with another class. They tell the students in Cleveland about their Web site and ask the Cleveland youngsters to visit the site and fill out a poll. In Part 2, the students discuss why they like this type of collaboration, and Torkel elaborates on why it is an effective learning tool.
|
|
In parts 1 and 2 of this clip, Donna Matteson of the Technology Education Department at C. Ray Bradley High School describes how students there worked in groups to produce a learning game for elementary-school students. The process of creating the game included using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and brainstorming and designing in collaborative groups.
|
|
Then the high-school students put their game to the test by seeking feedback from the elementary-school students. The high schoolers wanted to know whether the younger students would find the game challenging enough or too challenging, which aspects of the game worked well, and so on. In Part 1 of this video clip, the teacher introduces the older group to the younger and explains the joint project. In Part 2, the high-school students work with the younger children to "field-test" and perfect their game.
|
In schools
The schools listed below make cooperative learning an important part of their educational strategy:
 Blacksburg New School
http://www.new-school.org/
Founded in 1971, this school has a mission "to serve its students, teachers, and parents by providing a cooperative educational environment." The school's Web site provides information about its curriculum and activities. For example, first and second graders work cooperatively on a unit on dinosaurs that includes writing an adventure story about dinosaurs, calculating dinosaur populations, graphing dinosaurs' weights and heights, and learning about the era and environments when dinosaurs lived.
Molholm Elementary School
http://204.98.1.2/elem/molholm/
This public school in Jefferson County, Colorado, uses the Success For All reading program. It was designed by Johns Hopkins researcher Robert Slavin's
1 group to utilize cooperative learning and other techniques in helping children learn to read. The Web site includes links to a number of educational resources helpful to students and parents.
1. 
Springfield Public Schools
http://sps.k12.mo.us
This school system in Springfield, Missouri, is using cooperative-learning techniques from kindergarten through high school. The Springfield Web site includes lesson plans for numerous cooperative-learning activities. The site also includes numerous links that may be of use to parents, teachers, and students. The curriculum and major instructional goals for all areas are also available here.
For other schools and districts that use cooperative and collaborative learning, see our Resources page.
|
