CREATING POSSIBILITIES
Collaborative and Cooperative Group Pedagogy
Effective group work means more than forming students into groups. Its success, as shown in the Jigsaw classroom (Aronson, 1971; as cited in Lilienfield, et. el., 2015) or in specific examples such as Kenyan school reform (Hardman, et. al. as cited in Sperling & Winthrop, 2016) implies shift of teaching focus, away from “teacher centred pedagogies (e.g. teacher dominated, lecture driven, rote learning methods, and passive learning), and toward student or learner centred pedagogies (e.g. where teachers actively co-construct knowledge with students through activities, group work, reflection and promote critical thinking)” (Sperling & Winthrop, 2016).
Slavin (2010) derives the overall success of cooperative groups from its social dynamics: where individuals are accountable to the group for its collective success.
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Below illustrates further the effective cooperative learning dynamic.
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Different factors that influence the effectiveness of co-operative learning. (Slavin, 2010, p. 172)
Explore
the Jigsaw Classroom and follow their 10 step guide to start your own jigsaw classroom.
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The Jigsaw Classroom, developed by Elliot Aronson in 1971 (Lilienfield, et al., 2015), shows particular merit by developing social cohesion, effectively learning and building ‘soft skills’.
References
Lilienfield, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. L., Woolf, N. J., Jamieson, G Marks, A., & Slaughter, V.
(2015). Psychology from inquiry to understanding. (2nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Pearson
Australia.
Slavin, Robert E. (2010), “Co-operative learning: what makes group-work work?”, in Hanna Dumont, David Istance and Francisco Benavides (eds.), The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1787/9789264086487-9-en
Social Psychology Network (2014). Jigsaw Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.jigsaw.org/ overview/
Sperling, G. & Winthrop, R. (2016).What works in Girls’ Education. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/whatworksingirlseducation1.pdf
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