This weeks focus was on cooperative learning and constructivism. Two teaching methods that are not new by any means but ones that have gotten a lot of focus as effective methods in our teaching program at SPU.
As a science teacher cooperative learning is essentially required in many cases. Few schools have the resources to supply each student with lab supplies. It is up to the teacher to come up with some creative ways in which the groups can accomplish their tasks. during my student teaching, my mentor and I used group work quite a bit. We modified some of the lessons to be more group oriented and constructivist. One such lesson that I remember well is a lesson on the moons apparent motion. Each group had a task card in which they had to answer two questions. As a group they were tasked with coming up with a way to model which way the moon spun clockwise or counter clockwise. In addition the groups had to come up with a way to prove through modeling whether or not the moon spins knowing that on Earth we always see the same side of the moon. In order for each group to complete the activity they had to model their answer and explain it to Ms. Anex or I. This activity was great for student constructed knowledge. Many students came in to the lesson with preconceptions. Some students made up their minds as soon as they read the questions. It was fun to hear some of the students when they saw that their initial thoughts were wrong.
I think cooperative learning can also be a bit of a double edged sword. Not all students like working with others. Not all students work well with others. Some students who are prone to slacking off will continue to slack off even in the group leaving the rest of the group to make up their portion of the activity. Other students who may not do so well individually may be brought up by the input of other students. Each student can bring a new perspective to a problem and maybe as a group solve a given problem.
Cooperative activities are good practice for working together. I as a teacher need to be vigilant and monitor the groups for participation and appropriate behavior.
