Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Cooperative Learning in Math Class

I've been conducting an inquiry in my middle school level classes on the topic of cooperative learning. I teach mathematics, and my hope is that through cooperative work, students can gain confidence in their abilities and some anxiety that is commonly associated with mathematics may be alleviated. Working with the ever "connected" generation inspires me to create opportunities for them to cooperate and collaborate outside of the classroom. I'm interested in seeing how having a virtual support system for the students and having them be a part of an online community will affect their willingness to participate in cooperative situations. However, I'm finding that students are hesitant to cooperate; in fact, I'm noticing that many/most of them are competitive learners. I'm wondering how I can create, promote, and encourage a cooperative environment where students see the benefits of working together that we as educators see.

In my on-going quest to find instructional strategies that encourage and support student cooperation, I've come across the following articles that have been useful to me. Feel free to check them out (sign-in may be required using university ID), comment, or leave suggestions for all of us teacher inquirers out there!



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3 comments:

  1. Colleen's Professional PageMarch 18, 2010 at 2:41 PM

    Do you think the students are competitive learners because of the way you teach? Or because of the way the course is arranged?

    If the students are being tested and quizzed and feel they need to compete against one another, would creating more cooperative tasks help them to become more cooperative?

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  2. TeacherLauraMarch 18, 2010 at 6:42 PM

    Thanks for the comments/questions Colleen. Yes, I think there's a few factors at play here, and some if it may have to do with my teaching style and the way the course is arranged. As a person, I am very competitive; perhaps that plays a role in my students' perception of what is valued.

    Math is a very measurable subject - often (not always though), answers are "right" or "wrong", so it's easy for the students to make comparisons themselves between their performance or understanding and that of their peers'. I try to put cooperative tasks in as much as possible, with projects, group work, 'teach a buddy' tasks, etc, but my classes this year are very pre-occupied with test scores. This has both positive and negative repercussions. On one hand, it can work to push and motivate students, but on the other hand it can work to discourage them and cause anxiety. Different students learn different ways and it is definitely a bit of a juggling act in a detracked classroom.

    Another thing I'm noticing is that this competitive nature is more prevalent among boys that girls, and I even notice that competition exists more in some cultures than others. This is something I'm very interested in pursuing in future inquiry!

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  3. C and JMarch 22, 2010 at 12:12 AM

    What about showing their learning in a different way like creating a game or smart board interactive lesson? I had my students take photos to show different parts of the fractions unit we did and what they had learned at the end of the unit.

    Jeannine

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