Four Strategies for Collaboration in the Elementary Class
Elementary school students are among the most eager, excited students you'll meet! They're full of ideas as well as motivation and imagination. And, even more importantly, they're at a stage where they're open to make acquaintances, share stories, and talk about their thoughts with others.
As a teacher What can you do to make this happen inside your classroom?
Introduce: cooperative learning methods! The integrated method of learning with peers and students can be a great way to increase their excitement and share of their stories. It also helps other students in the class grow while creating an environment of collaboration and harmony in your class.
What is an Cooperative Learning Strategy?
Three main methods of teaching which allow students to work with other students. According to Johnson and co. as (1986) the cooperative learning methods are proven extremely effective and beneficial to both students and instructors.
The approach of a cooperative learning approach is by grouping students into small groups and helping them collaborate in groups to resolve a challenge.
What are the advantages of Cooperative Learning Strategies Helpful?
Learning strategies that involve cooperative work are useful at all stages of life and particularly during the age that many of our younger pupils begin their schooling. In elementary school, cooperating from an early age can be beneficial in developing cooperation, collaboration and the ability to socialize.
Johnson et. and (1986) also described the cooperative learning techniques that have an impact on friendships between students. Students who participated in these games had greater number of friends as well as better relationships with their peers. Creighton & Szymkowiak (2014) have also observed improved social competence among students who played cooperative games. It was evident that they had a higher capacity to negotiate and a greater ability to manage individual needs, and to build positive relationships with other people.
4 Cooperative Learning Strategies to Exam
Jigsaw Pieces
It is a method where each team member is given a portion of the task in which they work together. In the case of younger children, for example, they might be given a piece of a piece of puzzle they have to work on building in a group. Another option for students in the elementary grades is to give three lists which are related to one another and ask students to find similar elements from the three lists together. This exercise improves the comprehension of listening and problem solving among the students.
Interviewing students
Students may interview fellow students as well as have guided discussions with other students ideal for children who may be having difficulty making friends. It also encourages active listening, as well as improves interpersonal skills, such as empathy and emotional ability.
The activity involves creating a group of students and inviting them to discuss with one another regarding a particular subject. It's possible to have students to talk with each other about the topic of the lesson strategy (ie. What do you know about lakes, bodies of water and the like? the water?). Alternatively, you may get the pupils to discuss the experiences they had during summer break or winter, such as, for example to help in making friends in the younger classes.
The Marshmallow and Spaghetti Tower
It is the most classic game in which students are provided with a marshmallow, 20 sticks of spaghetti and a metres of tape. Students then have to build the highest tower using their marshmallows in the middle.
Tom Wujec dove deeper into the issue and came across an interesting finding - that children in kindergarten performed better in this assessment as compared to MBA students. It is due to the fact that younger students are much more likely to develop prototypes, as well as to be able to test their communication skills than adults. Adults are taught "how things ought to be done" which means they're less inclined to try new things to discover what's working best.
This is a great chance to build interpersonal skills, to test their effectiveness with different activities and observe if naturally-born leaders emerge within the group.
Circle the Sage
"Circle The Sage" also known as "Circle the Sage" practice is great to build confidence, communication skills, and accountability children in the elementary grades. The exercise begins by the entire class asking who knows what the correct response to a specific question (ie. the most difficult homework issue or something related to your present lesson). Ideally, four students talk and be prepared to reply. The students will serve as "sages." Every Sage takes a portion of the room and the rest of their classmates are divided into corners, where they stand close to a sage, who will give answers to questions. Students are able to share their thoughts in a smaller group, before returning to their seats and share their knowledge together with the class.
7 Strategies for Integrating Collaboration Strategies for Learning
Mix Skill Niveaus
The main benefit cooperative learning strategies provide is that students can engage with learning and share their knowledge. To get maximum benefit from this, consider forming your groups that reflect the diverse abilities in reading. The ones with better reading abilities can help the ones with less reading levels. This can also be assessed in assessing the capability to hear or to solve problems skills.
Reduce Group Size
For students to improve the active communication skills and speedy problem solving Limit the size of the group to 3-5 students. This allows students to be part of a group dynamic with a few students can lead naturally while others will be managers of the project's component. When there are numerous students within a group, some might feel left out or do not have a large part of the work. There is a major component that should concentrate on increasing motivation as well as a belief in the importance of the group.
Short Training Time Frames
Maintaining a time limit of 15 minutes or less is useful when children first begin doing group work with their peers. There's a possibility that they will encounter difficulties in communicating more quickly, or get distracted from activities faster at younger ages. If students are advancing through the year and in future classes, you may be able to extend the amount of time you allocate to each co-learning strategy. If you're undertaking more complex projects, it is also possible to split it into smaller segments so that teams can be in a position to focus on certain project components each day. This can be helpful in the task of breaking down big projects into more manageable, smaller practical tasks.
Give key Question Questions and Objectives
To ensure alignment between teamwork and individual objectives, make sure your team members are given specific, clear objectives or questions to be working toward or discussing throughout the process. In smaller groups, it's feasible to concentrate on a single goal (ie. put the puzzle pieces together to create the dinosaur's face). In older classes You can start to integrate more stages of the deliverables you'll need for your project (ie. First determine .... what data is needed to develop the project ....) Then, you can ask the questions for your final project for classes older so that they know what they are expected to understand by the end the project (ie. What materials did you use during the course of your work? What materials proved to be the most beneficial in the construction of an erect tower? )
Beware of Interrupting Group Work in Active Mode
The benefit of collaborative learning is that teams can collaborate to resolve their problems. Inviting students to engage with others to discuss concepts, discuss and make decisions is a key component of developing communication skills. Interrupting discussions with groups can disrupt the flow of the group and lead them to become dependent on support from the teacher/supervisor. An alternative to interrupting groups to discuss project the progress of the project is to put an assistant supervisor on floating floats, who can serve as an observer to identify leadership weaknesses and strengths regarding communication and styles of communication as well as the pace of group progress. If your group faces a problem or question during the course of work inform them to try to resolve the issue on their own before going into the office to seek assistance.
Guarantee Individual Accountability
While the students are working with each other in activities of cooperative learning, they are still very focused on working in groups in their own way. Take note of how the students are engaging with other students and developing their leadership abilities, or even passing up tasks to allow other students to lead. Assuring that every student has accountability means students will be evaluated for their individual contributions as well as how they communicate within the class. It will be certain that they have developed skills to take away from the experiences.
Revision of Practice Groups
Retrospective as a group following the lesson will help students reflect on what they learned best, what failed to perform well, and what reasons for these issues may occur. In a group it is possible to discuss what can be done better in the future, and assure that you've got an improved procedure.
It's possible to implement this in their current groups so that they can strengthen their collaboration. You can then change this procedure to include the whole classroomto allow students to see how various groups collaborated. If you have smaller classes, it could be best to share your reflection with the full class, while older students could begin to reflect about themselves within smaller groups. This is the best method to carry out the reflection is to do it after the work has finished, when it's still fresh in their minds.
Conclusion
The integration of cooperative learning strategies do not require high-cost resources, charismatic leadership or complex programs (Slavin 1999). It's therefore the ideal way to begin by incorporating them into your routine to assist youngsters build better relationships, gain social competency skills, and develop a greater perception of themselves.
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