Anne Princess Sevilla Justine Sales

Activity-based

teaching implies active learning on the part of the learner. All of the strategies discussed in this chapter, cooperative learning and self learning modules require the learner to do more than listen and study. Learners engaged in these strategies are involved in creating and storing up knowledge retention and a high level of performance when these types of active learning strategies are used.

 Cooperative

learning is not new. In fact it has been present in some form for centuries. Its durability is probably based on the fact that even before any research was conducted, people knew that they could learn successfully in groups. Cooperative learning is based on the premise that learners work together and are responsible for not only their own learning but also for the learning of other group members(Lindauer& Petrie,1997).

working definition of cooperative learning is that it involves structuring small groups of learners (usually groups of four or five) who work together toward achieving shared learning goals. Group projects- a common feature of many nursing courses do not necessarily constitute cooperative learning because they often consist of individuals working in tandem to meet their own goals

 To

meet the criteria for cooperative learning, the learners must be aware that they are responsible for the learning of all group members.

Cooperative learning groups can be structured in various ways. The basic configurations are termed: formal groups informal groups base groups.

 You

may set up a formal cooperative learning group in a nursing research course for example if you assign groups of students to develop a proposal for clinical research study (Goodfellow,1995). An assignment like this could be done in traditional class or an online class.

 Students

will learn from each other as they brainstorm how to approach the study. Although the group may decide to divide up some of the tasks to be accomplished, they should be held accountable for group learning as well as individual learning You may also want to ask questions of each group member during the development of the project so you have assurance that all group members are engaged in the process

Purpose

To complete a specific learning task consisting of concepts or skills

To enhance understanding of a specific unit of information; to make connections to prior learning No more than one class and perhaps for only a few minutes during a class

To provide encouragement and to monitor progress throughout the learning experience The length of the learning experience usually long term

Length

One class to many weeks

 Individual

accountability can be established or reinforced by giving quizzes on the content to be learned during the group project Formal cooperative learning is probably most useful in academic settings rather than in inservice or patient education situations

Informal cooperative learning groups can be used in any setting An application in patient education would be a situation where you are teaching about the childbirth experience to a group of parents- to be. After teaching them about the stages of labor, you could have groups of four turn to each other and discuss what they have just learned about the events taking place in these stages. Discussion of the facts just presented helps the group members to understand and clarify misconceptions as well as to share concerns about the experience to come.

 Could

be applied easily to new staff orientation or preceptorship programs Example:if new registered nurses are being oriented to a healthcare facility and the orientation experience lasts for six weeks, these new employees could be asked to form groups of four or five to meet for an hour a week to share experiences,encourage each other and monitor each others progress.

Advantages of cooperative learning

First, group members learn to function as part of a team. For nurses, this is an invaluable lesson because they need to be able to work cooperatively in the workplace in order to effectively meet patient needs. Second, working in a group for any length of time can teach or enhance social communication skills. It may be necessary to teach people new to cooperative groups some theory about group process.

 Anyone

who has been a member of a learning group or worked with these groups knows that there is always the potential for conflict. The very fact that the members are somewhat dependent on each other for their learning and possibly for a grade, sets the stage for difficulties.

 Third

advantage is that cooperative learning groups can help to address individual learning needs and learning styles(Huff, 1997) Fourth advantage of cooperative learning is the fact that critical thinking is promoted. As group members discuss issues, explain their reasoning and question each other they begin to evaluate each others position and reasoning and to see discrepancies and flaws in hypotheses and so on. All of these activities are excellent practice in critical thinking.

 There

are no significant disadvantages to cooperative learning except the belief that if you use class time in cooperative learning, you wont able to cover all the content One more disadvantage is that some learners would much prefer working individuallly rather than in groups. This dislike of group work may stem from perceived loss of individual control or from dissastisfaction with the prospect of a group grade ( King&Behnke,2005)

 The

difficulties in group grading practices are significant enough that a number of researchers have studied the issue(Gupta,2004;King&Behnke,2005). Some people believe that any form of group grade is inherently unfair. Others feel that any perceived unfairness is offset by the knowledge gains from which all students in the group appear to benefit.

1. Provide opportunities for self and peer evaluations. Students can be given rating forms for themselves and their peers. Each students effort and performance can be rated and then averaged. 2. Contract with each group as to which portions of the work will be done by each individual. An individual grade can then be assigned to each portion of the project 3. Assign a group grade for the project. The amount of weight given to the group grade can vary depending on other grade components. 4. Give bonus points to each group member if each persons individual grade surpasses their grades on previous projects or exams.

 Research

on the effectiveness of cooperative learning has been conducted since the early 1900s. Johnson and colleagues(1998) report that atleast 168 studies were conducted between 1924 and 1997.

 1.Cooperative

learning produces higher achivement levels than do individualistic or competitive learning approaches. 2. Outcome measures of achievement are knowledge gain, retention of knowledge , problem solving,reading, mathematics and procedural tasks all of which show increases with cooperative learning.
3.Other

outcomes found are increased self esteem, improved attitude toward learning,social competence and decreased anxiety in learning.

 4.

Cooperative learning has been found to be a cost-effective strategy 5. Effectiveness of cooperative learning has been found in all ages and levels of education, both sexes, all nationalities studied and all economic groups. 6. Effects have been equally good for learners at all ability levels.

 An

added bonus according to Johnson and colleagues(1998) is that the research done on cooperative learning has a level of validity and generalizability beyond that seen in most educational research.

Exactly,why

is cooperative learning so

effective?

 First,

we know that an effective way to learn something is to try to teach it to somene else. Second, as learners listento each other, they work to make sense of what each is saying and then they build on these ideas, thus adding to their cognitive schemata. Third, as learners within a group disagree with each other they seek to reduce cognitive dissonance and therefore end up synthesizing divergent ideas. Fourth, behavioral theory would support the fact that there is group reinforcement present when rewards are available learning outcomes.

With so much evidence supporting the effectiveness of cooperative learning,one wonders why this strategy is not used more often