The Importance of Collaborative Learning

Two (or more) heads are better than one

Grace Kelly firmly believes that Franklin’s maxim, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn” holds true when investigating the benefits of collaborative learning.

Working together

As a teacher and a teacher mentor, my trainee students often ask me how they can better manage and facilitate group work and collaborative learning. “When I observe group work, you make it look so easy” they would often say.

I can fully admit that group work like most teaching skills needs crafting and planning and practice makes perfect; but, if the old age adage is to be believed, then ‘two heads most certainly are better than one’ and perseverance will bear fruits.

Collaborative learning teams are said to attain higher-level thinking and preserve information for longer. But why is this so? Groups tend to learn through discussion, clarification of ideas and evaluation of others’ ideas. Information that is discussed is retained in long-term memory. It is widely accepted that we learn approximately 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss, 80% of what we experience and 95% of what we teach others. Collaborative learning is vital for enhanced learning in the classroom and pupils who demonstrate lower levels of achievement improve when working in diverse groups.

Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) was the father of social learning. He was an education rebel in many ways; controversially he argued for educators to assess a student’s ability to solve problems, rather than their knowledge acquisition. The idea of collaborative learning has a lot to do with Vygotsy’s idea of the ‘zone of proximal development’, which considers what a student can do if aided/guided by peers or adults. By considering this model for learning, we might consider if collaboration increases student’s awareness of other concepts.

Learning is social in nature. Those who develop good social skills go on to become very successful in life as they have the ability to deal with people and have a sharper EQ. Using different mediums, whether it be books, discussions, technology or projects, we study and develop new ideas. Collaboration is a learned process. If managed correctly, it is a powerful tool that can allow educators to tap into new ideas and information; it allows for challenge and differentiation, enhanced confidence and self-esteem as well as strengthening social skills. In short, collaboration is a critical skill for life.

Personal interaction reaps rewards

In recent years the amount of social interaction between people has increased with the explosion of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Many academic learning platforms have incorporated this type of software to enable collaborative learning. However, I believe it is even more important that we teach communication and group work at a face to face classroom level so students do not lose touch of the importance of personal interaction – a vital aspect of developing the ‘whole child’.

Distributed and collaborative learning with its emphasis on mindfulness, awareness of others, non-judgemental interactions, acknowledgement of each person’s unique contributions and recognition of the importance of deep participation, can’t help but foster critical thinking skills and greater empathetic engagement. Collaborative learning transforms the classroom into a laboratory for empathic expression and which in turn enriches the educational process and our students on many different levels. The best teachers foster and encourage an environment of learning from each other.

Building foundations

Before setting out with group work as a classroom ‘norm’, the idea of group work must first be learned. When introducing critical skills, I take time to establish what are critical skills and as a class we establish criteria for what successful group work looks like. Students will often suggest: good listening, everyone having an equal role, everyone pulling their weight, everyone having a specific job to carry out and contribute. We even go as far as discussing ‘What does good listening look like?’ Critical skills will be enhanced and developed year on year if taught early in the child’s school life and collaborative work is an activity that can almost be self-managed by the students, as we discreetly prepare them for the wider world and world of work.

The jigsaw effect

Some key aspects of collaborative learning that I have found effective are:

Collaborative work – older studentsEstablishing group goals – in other words create a success criteria with your class.

Being mindful of the size of groups; anything over four is verging on too big and harder to manage.

Establishing group roles. For example I will give my students cards with a picture of their role: group leader, time keeper, resource manager and the person to keep the area tidy at the end and aim to ensure equal participation with the task. Thus emphasising the Jigsaw effect– the workplace is often like a jigsaw, each person with a different role but each role being vital to the overall success.

photo by People Creations on Pikwizard

Building trust and promoting open communication.

Recording progress. Asking each group what they ‘know’ at the beginning of the lesson/topic and coming back to it again at the end. Asking them ‘What do you know now’? You will be amazed at the progress made in groups if managed properly.

Focusing on enhancing problem solving and critical thinking skills. Allowing them to solve problems for themselves. Try using ‘Three before me’e. Brain, Partner, Book – Teacher.

Group diversity- keeping the groups as diverse as possible, you will find each student will benefit from the dynamics.

Equal girl/boy ratios tend to work more successfully.

Teacher serving as a facilitator.

I am a big advocate of setting up the task and allowing the students to work it out for themselves.

Using technology, although this is not always necessary.

Encouraging and enhancing the importance of ‘Listening skills’ – you will see a great difference in both their interaction with each other as well as with you if they crack this one.

Diversity of the groups provides a pool of talent, can draw on different learning styles, gender perspectives, experience, cultures and backgrounds.

Collaborative learning is a positive, inclusive and powerful learning strategy that engages students throughout their school life and has had a significant positive impact on my classes personal outcomes. I encourage you to give it a go and embed it in your teaching.

*Source: Internet

My Reward for Selfless Service

I received the message below from my children at Rochas Foundation College of Africa (ROFOCA), recently. This message is worth all the treasures of the world to me. This is what I live for day in, day out. God bless my ROFOCA children now and always.

It reads:

“Hello Sir,

With great pleasure, I greet you with all love in remembrance of all the sacrifices you made when you were with us…We always remember your kind advice to us with love as a father.”

“Sir it is only God that will pay you back. We will always remember you in all that we do and we have always resolved that you are the first unforgettable Dean in our lives.”

“Thank you Sir for everything.”

“We love you so much.”

Signed:

EMMANUEL YANGA

FOR: Your faithful children of ROFOCA

Boy Seven, Beaten to death by Angry Classmates

NEWS:

A seven year old boy identified as Phestus Kalela was confirmed dead after being beaten by four angry classmates for writing their names on the noise makers list and also being served a punishment of picking papers.

The class captain was pronounced dead few minutes after arriving Kitwe Teaching Hospital, Zambia, following the injuries he sustained after being beaten by the boys aged 8, 7 and 6. Confirming the incident, Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu said the deceased was brought in unconcious but died later in the intensive care unit as efforts to resuscitate him were futile.

“I wish to confirm…a 7-year-old boy who was beaten to death by peers. I received this information after my visit to the hospital,” Mpundu said.

The district commissioner who described the incident as saddening, wondered how children below the age of 10 could beat their peer who was buried today to death. It was further gathered that the boys who are below 10 have no case to answer, as they cannot be proscuted under the Zambian law.

*Source: Internet

Creative Ways to Teach Children Values (III)

-By Examples

Amb. Anthony Ororho

Johan accompanied his father to the shopping mall to purchase some food items and some grocery. When they got to the ice cream corner, he asked his father to buy him some ice cream; and his father obliged him.

He opened the cup of ice cream as his father drove out of the parking lot and started consuming it. His father stopped over at the petrol station to top up his fuel tank, then he brought out the hot dog he bought for himself and ate it. While he was waiting for the vulcanite to check the pressure of his car tyres, he noticed that Johan had finished his ice cream and, had dropped the ice cream cup on the floor. After finishing his hot dog, he rolled up the wrapper, picked up Johan’s ice cream cup and took both to the refuse basket where he dropped them.

On their way home, Johan summed up courage and asked his father.

Johan: Father, I noticed that you picked up the empty ice cream cup which I dropped on the floor, and, you rolled up your hot dog wrapper, took both to the trash basket and dropped them there. Why did you do that?

Father: You see son, somebody sweeps the floor every day, and he gets paid to do the job.

Johan: In that case, you should have allowed him pick it up, since it is his job to keep the place clean.

Father: Son, the petrol station is part of earth’s environment. It is the duty of every human to make the earth a clean place to live in. Besides, a clean environment will make us all healthy.

Johan: Now I understand. Thank you father for that interesting lecture.

Father: It is my pleasure.

Throughout the drive back home, Johan was silent; he was playing back the whole episode in his tender mind. And his tender heart began to draw lines between the do’s and don’ts which have been listed by his parents and teaches all this while.

Footnote: The above story is a very creative way to teach children values. Johan saw firsthand, how to be a responsible person, what it means to practice what you preach as well as how to live a healthy life. Let us teach by examples and let the children copy the fine examples we set.

Creative Ways to Teach Children Values (II)

-Simulation

By Amb. Anthony Ororho

-The use of Simulation

Simulation is a very effective and creative method of teaching morals. It simply means imitating the original or true life situation. It is the dramatization of something that happened in the distant or immediate past. We can also call it Role Playing.

We know that children have their individual learning styles but all of them, except the blind among them can benefit from the use of drama or Audio-Visual teaching aids. This is the reason we have audio visual aids like Barney and Friends, Sesame Street, Young Scholars and a host of others. Remember too, the Nigerian Television Authority Children’s Education programme Tales by Moonlight? It was a never-miss for many a Nigerian Child in the 1980s.

A teacher who uses simulation in class must create room for Question Time. This is where she uses questions to measure the children’s ability to Recall, Analyse and Synthesise the simulated situation. It is only after she has assessed her teaching style vis-à-vis the performance of the children, that she can can say she has succeeded. Otherwise, she should return to the previous stage of her plan.

Parents too can borrow a leaf from this short message, apply it in their homes and lovingly watch their children make progress morally and academically.

Creative Ways to Teach Children Values (I)

*Story Telling Method

By Amb. Anthony Ororho

I remember the story telling method as a very creative way to teach virtues like Compassion, Honesty and Love. When a teacher tells a story, s/he should lay emphasis on the moral lesson; the parable of the Good Samaritan is a fitting example.

When Jesus finished telling the story, he asked “Who among these men did a good deed?”

The teacher should ask questions at the end of the message, using inference as an assessment tool, verify if the sudents understand the message as well as deduce the lessons learnt.