Collaboration means working with at least one other person to attain a goal or objective. The collaborative process applies the concept "two heads are better than one" to the learning environment. Two or more students are given an objective or goal to work toward. Objectives and goals of collaboration are achieved because students learn to depend upon and use each others’ strengths to solve problems. Collaborative experiences engage students in an interactive approach of processing information which supports

¨ greater retention of subject matter,

¨ improved attitudes toward learning, and

¨ enhanced interpersonal relationships among group members.

Team work, group dynamics, and self discovery are often results for individuals involved in a collaborative process.

Cooperative learning is an extensively researched instructional method in which students are divided into small groups (2-6 members) to achieve a common goal or task. The groups are chosen heterogeneously and attention is given to different social backgrounds, skill levels, physical capabilities, gender, and learning styles. The students work collaboratively with all participating, but each is held individually accountable for academic performance and social behavior. To enhance the productivity of the group and to develop social skills of individuals, students are taught appropriate collaborative skills. The teacher observes both academic and social behavior and intervenes as necessary to guide, redirect, and clarify.

Cooperative learning helps to eliminate competition between students and facilitates the achievement of group goals that could not be achieved individually. There are many cooperative learning techniques and structures. The chart on the next page includes examples and descriptions of a few techniques.

Peer or Cross-Age Tutoring is a technique where students provide academic assistance to peers or younger students. It casts one student in the role of teaching another student and provides an alternative for direct teacher-to-student interaction. This process helps students think through procedures and concepts thoroughly enough to teach others and reinforces their own present knowledge.

Since the students work together and are responsible for each other’s learning the difference in their ability should not be so great as to intimidate a partner nor so similar they are unable to aid each other’s progress. However, strong evidence exists that students at every level of achievement can be effective tutors. Low achievers can demonstrate they are capable of learning and helping others learn. High achievers develop a sense of responsibility for those less advanced.

Demonstrating the concept "You learn what you teach," tutors encounter opportunities to review basic skills without embarrassment, gain experience in applying academic abilities, and develop insight into the process of teaching and learning. Tutees receive individualized instruction while working with positive role models. Tutorial grouping is most effective when it is not used excessively so that the chosen students do not feel isolated from their classmates. Below is an example of a management device which may be useful. The form is filled out initially by the teacher and then later taken over by the tutor and tutee as more responsibility is allotted to them.

Reciprocal teaching, an interactive dialogue between the teacher and students about content/material, helps students learn how effective readers process information.

The teacher first models the technique, providing practice time for students to take turns being "the teacher," while the teacher monitors progress and provides feedback. When students are proficient at using the technique, it can be incorporated into cooperative learning activities. There are four steps involved in implementing the reciprocal teaching strategy.

Step 1 - Summarizing - Students restate what they have read in their own words. They work to find the most important information in the text. Initially, their summaries may be of sentences or paragraphs but later should focus on larger units of text.

Step 2 - Generating Questions - students ask questions about the material. In order to do this, they must identify significant information, pose questions related to this information, and check to make sure they can answer their own questions.

Step 3 - Clarifying - Students focus on the reasons why the text is difficult to understand, (e.g., new vocabulary, unclear reference words, and unfamiliar concepts.). Students may clarify or ask for clarification in order to make sense of the text.

Step 4 - Predicting - Students speculate on what will be discussed next in the text. To be successful, students must recall relevant background knowledge so they can connect what they are reading with what they already know.

Reciprocal teaching can be used across the curriculum and at all developmental levels. See the example below:

Teacher, introducing the story: Today we will be reading a story called "The Snowshoe Rabbit:" Does anyone have a prediction about what this story will be about?

Traver, predicting: It might tell...he lives in the snow probably ...and it might tell you...if he’s got shoes or something.

Teacher: It did say snowshoe, didn’t it?

Manny, predicting: It might just be that his feet really look like shoes.

Teacher: Those are all good predictions. Let’s see if this is what the author wrote. Reads the fist sentence of the story: How far can you jump? Asks the children: What do you think the author is going to tell us?

Meara: How far the rabbit can jump.

Teacher, reading from the story: "A snowshoe rabbit can jump 15 feet." Asks the children: Did Meara make a good guess? Teacher continues to read the first paragraph describing the speed and strength of the snowshoe rabbit. She then calls on the child who is to lead this portion of the discussion.

Teacher: Troy is our teacher.

Troy, questioning: How fast does the rabbit run?

The group talks about how fast and far a snowshoe rabbit runs and the reasons why.

Troy, summarizing: This part told us about why he can go far and he can jump fast. Predicting: It might tell us where he lives, what state he’s in.

The teacher continues to read the next part of the story which describes where the snowshoe rabbit lives and what it looks like, including its hind feet and coloring. The reading is interrupted once by a child asking the teacher to clarify hind. Meara is the next discussion leader and begins questioning about how the snowshoe rabbit gets its name. Then she summarizes. And so the story goes.

Adapted from "Collaborative Research and Development of Reciprocal Teaching" by Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Kathryn Ransom, and Sue Derber, Educational Leadership, December ‘88/January ‘89.

 

Community-Based Instruction (CBI), sometimes called Community-Based Learning, provides students with learning experiences in real life situations and settings. It enables them to relate school work to knowledge and skills needed for work in community agencies. The approach offers an alternative to the student who enjoys working with people to achieve a goal and uses the community in a partnership with the school. The experiences may be short- or long-term and must be coordinated through the school with instructional expectations clearly defined.