ED2135 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Deeper Understanding, Energizer, Meddle
Introduction to Teaching Skills
Lecture Seven – Week Seven
Cooperative & Collaborative Learning in Action
• This Week’s outcomes
o Explain the advantages of using groups to organise classroom structures and routines.
o Justify placing students into groups based on different criteria.
o Link appropriate assessment techniques to group work.
• Effective Teachers employ a number of strategies
o Whole class learning
o Individualised learning
o Explicit instruction
o Small group learning
o Cooperative learning
• Whole class instruction
o An introduction to a new teaching unit or theme
o An activity of general interest or videotape, film, slide projection
o Demonstration
o Briefing talk
o Teaching a complex concept or skill.
• Individualised Learning
o Effective teachers organise opportunities for students to work individually
o To incorporate individual projects or research within the topic or theme
o To vary the content
o To vary the pace of learning
o To cater for different intelligences encouraging different modes of expression
o To use a variety of strategies
o To vary the assessment tasks
• IEP’s – Individualised Education Plans
o For students whose needs fall outside what is provided for the whole class or groups within the class.
▪ eg. Advanced learners, struggling students
o May involve academic, social, physical or emotional developmental needs
• Small group learning
o What to consider
▪ Is the outcome you seek suited to group work?
▪ How should the groups be formed?
▪ Have students developed the social skills?
▪ Are there enough resources?
• Students develop at different rates cognitively, personally, socially and emotionally
• Why use small groups?
o To provide opportunities for students to develop personally and socially
o A major reason why teachers create small groups to work in their class is to provide opportunities for all
students to develop personally and socially.
o Decisions about using groups should be made carefully and not for simplistic reasons.
find more resources at oneclass.com
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• Types of small groups
o Students may be grouped in smaller groups
▪ Heterogeneously
• Based on mixed abilities
• Randomly chosen using colours, numbers, etc.
• Marsh, 2014, p.139
▪ Homogeneously
• Groups with similar achievements – reading groups, spelling groups;
• Groups with the same skill – physical education;
• Friendship groups which could be based on observation - or for hidden friendship patterns
use a sociogram;
• Interest groups.
• Grouping – Types (Whitton, 2010, p. 182-183)
o Ability
o Friendship
o Interest
o Student selected
o Cross-ability
o Cross-age
o Eclectic
o Individual
• Multi-age Grouping
o student-centred and based on developmental needs.
o Vygotsky’s theory with its emphasis on development through interactions with other people, and working
within the “zone of proximal development”, are of significance.
o peer or cross-age tutoring is encouraged.
o The approach of Multi-age grouping is student-centred and based on developmental needs.
o Vygotsky’s theory with it’s emphasis on development through interactions with other people, and working
within the “zone of proximal development”,
o are of significance to teachers in multi-age classrooms and, for this reason, peer or cross-age tutoring is
encouraged.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
