Cooperative Learning

I think group work has pros and cons. Working with a group you get different ideas that you would not have otherwise, but it is hard to meet together and different personalities may have conflicts. I think at a college level group work it harder, because teachers do not usually give class time and you have to meet outside of class, but everyone has different schedules and responsibilities. Therefore, it can be very difficult to meet outside of class. In high school group work was easier, because the teacher usually gave class time and the people in your class were usually friends, so it was easier to get together and meet for a project. In college you usually do not know the people you are with until you do the project. In group projects there is usually someone that does not put as much effort into the project compared to the other group members, so group projects can be stressful and unfair in that way. Cooperative learning is also hard, because everyone has different work ethics and different expectations on their grades, so people do not put the same amount of effort into the project, but they get the same grade.

I think I would evaluate cooperative learning in my classroom by getting the students to do a group evaluation and a self-evaluation, because a group evaluation would give me an idea on who did what. A self-evaluation would also give me an idea on what the student thought they did. I would give them questions to answer as a guide line for them, so the evaluation process would be easier. Then get them to give a mark out of 10 for example. This would help me as a teacher on what mark I should give each student.

School is becoming more project based learning, as it is more interactive. I think it is a good thing, as it gets the students to problem solve and think outside the box, but it is harder for teachers to mark. I did many group projects throughout my schooling. Some were good experiences and some were not. I remember in grade seven, I did a group project. We were put into groups randomly and I just happened to get into a group with all boys that were friends. I ended up doing a lot of the work and there was some conflict between me and the boys. Sometimes it is good for the students to make up their own groups depending on their age, as disagreements can occur, but then there is always the chance someone will feel left out if they did not get into a group. Sometimes it is also good for students to try to work with people they do not usually work with. Some teachers give an option to do the project alone, as some students like to do the work themselves, as they can work on it on their own time and not worry about meeting with people. There are many careers that you have to work with people and problem solve, so learning that skill in school is a very useful thing.

A successful cooperative learning would be a project that everyone works together nicely, as everyone works hard to try to do well. Everyone is social, as they talk through ideas. There is an individual assessment as well as a group assessment. The teacher gets the students to think about what they learnt and what happened during the project.