The document provides ideas and activities for engaging students through cooperative learning. It discusses the benefits of cooperative learning, including increased achievement and motivation. Several cooperative learning activities are described, such as Three Musketeers for team building, note-taking pairs to improve notes, and Jigsaw where students become experts on parts of topics. The basic elements of cooperative learning are outlined as positive interdependence, interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal skills, and group processing.

1. Engaging Students Through
Cooperative Learning:
Ideas for Success
Laura Schulz
Talent Development High Schools

2. Three Musketeers:
A TEAM Building Activity
1. Find three things that everyone on the team likes
2. Find three things that everyone on the team dislikes
3. Find one thing that is unique to each of the team
members
4. Decide on a team name that has something to do with
your collective likes and dislikes
5. Write your TEAM name on your “Table Tent”

3. What makes a TEAM
different than a group?

4. What is a Team?
Teams differ from groups because they include
the following basic elements of cooperative
learning:
Goals are shared
Information is circulated
Roles are assigned
Materials are managed
Teammates depend on each other to complete tasks
successfully
Students gain respect for each other’s contributions to the
team

5. Goal Setting: Why are we here today?
– Think about what your expectations are for the
professional development session today
– Pair with another team member to discuss
expectations
– Share as a team your expectations
– Set 3 goals your team wishes to accomplish
during our session today
– Write those 3 goals on the back of your team’s
table tent

6. Why Cooperative
Learning?

7. We Learn:
• 10% of what we read
• 20% of what we hear
• 30% of what we see
• 50% of what we both see and hear
• 70% of what is discussed with others
• 80% of what we experience personally
• 95% of what we teach someone else
William Glasser

8. Expectations in the Workplace:
How have things Changed?
Organizational Effectiveness Reading
Problem Solving Teamwork
Interpersonal Skills Writing
Computation Listening
Creative Thinking Leadership
Oral Communication
Career Development/Motivation

9. According to Fortune 500 Companies:
The Top Skills sought by employers
1970
3. READING
2. COMPUTATION
1. WRITING
2000
3. INTERPERSONAL
SKILLS
2. PROBLEM SOLVING
1. TEAMWORK

10. Thinking about the subject or
subjects you teach
(Knowing the skills that are in demand in the workplace today)
What jobs or careers are you
preparing your students to hold?
(Use chart paper to share some examples)

11. BREAK TIME

12. A History of Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is not a new idea.
 The Talmud clearly states that in order to learn you must have a
learning partner.
 In the first century, Quintillion argued that students could benefit from
teaching one another.
 The Roman philosopher, Seneca advocated cooperative learning
through such statements as, "Qui Docet Discet" (when you teach, you
learn twice).
 Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1679) believed that students would
benefit both by teaching and being taught by other students.

13. A History of Cooperative Learning
 In the late 1700s Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell made extensive
use of cooperative learning groups in England, and the idea was
brought to America when a Lancastrian school was opened in New
York City in 1806.
 Within the Common School Movement in the United States in the
early 1800s there was a strong emphasis on cooperative learning.
 In the last three decades of the 19th Century, Colonel Francis Parker
brought to his advocacy of cooperative learning enthusiasm, idealism,
practicality, and an intense devotion to freedom, democracy, and
individuality in the public schools. Parker's advocacy of cooperation
among students dominated American education through the turn of
the century.

14. A History of Cooperative Learning
 John Dewey promoted the use of cooperative learning
groups as part of his famous project method in instruction.
 In the late 1930's, however, interpersonal competition
began to be emphasized in schools
 In the late 1960s, individualistic learning began to be
used extensively.
 In the 1980s, schools once again began to use
cooperative learning.

15. What is Cooperative Learning?
Cooperative Learning refers to a set of
instructional methods in which students work
in small, mixed-ability learning teams.
The students in each team are responsible not
only for learning the material being taught,
but also for helping their teammates learn.

16. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small
groups so that students work together to maximize their
own and each other's learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993).
Within cooperative learning groups students discuss the
material to be learned with each other, help and assist
each other to understand it, and encourage each other to
work hard.

17. Cooperative learning groups may be used to teach specific
content (formal cooperative learning groups), to ensure
active cognitive processing of information during a
lecture or demonstration (informal cooperative learning
groups), and to provide long-term support and assistance
for academic progress (cooperative base groups) (Johnson, Johnson,
& Holubec, 1993).
Any assignment in any curriculum for any age student can be
done cooperatively.

18. Benefits of Cooperative Learning
Increased Achievement
Increase in Positive Relationships
Greater Intrinsic Motivation
Higher Self-Esteem
More “On-Task” Behavior
Better Attitudes Toward Teachers and School

19. Additional Benefits of Cooperative
Learning…
Students take responsibility for their own
learning
Students translate “teacher talk” into “student
speak” for their peers
Students engage in “cognitive collaboration.”
They must organize their thoughts to explain
ideas to classmates
Students have FUN learning
Students social nature is used to their
advantage

20. Bonuses for High Achievers
Higher levels of achievement
Even greater retention of information due to
“cognitive rehearsal”
Development of key skills:
Social
Leadership
Communication
Decision Making
Problem Solving
Conflict Resolution

21. Basic Elements of Cooperative
Learning
Positive Interdependence
Face-to- Face Interaction
Individual Accountability
Interpersonal And Small Group Skills
Group Processing
Taken from: Circles of Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom (Revised Edition) D.W.
Johnson, R.T. Johnson and Edythe Johnson Holubec. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
1986

22. Positive Interdependence
Students must feel they need each other in order to
complete the group’s task
Mutual Goals
Joint Rewards
Shared Materials and Information
Assigned Roles

23. Face-to-Face Interaction
Discussing
Summarizing
Explaining
Elaborating
Receiving Feedback

24. Individual Accountability
Teams succeed when:
Every member has learned the material
Every member has helped complete tasks
Frequently teachers assess individual learning

25. Interpersonal and Small Group Skills
 Communication
 Leadership
 Decision-making
 Conflict Management
 Active Listening
 Challenging Ideas Not People
 Compromising

26. Group Processing
Giving students the time and the procedures to
analyze how well their teams are functioning
with:
Learning tasks
Social skills
Self-assessment

27. Sample Types of Activities
Direct Instructional Activities
present information to students or demonstrate skills
Activities for Student Practice
after direct instruction
Cooperative Learning Instructional Activities
brainstorming, note-taking pairs, cooperative writing and
editing pairs
Whole Lesson Formats
involves teacher-directed and student directed strategies
without other lesson components
Movement Oriented Activities
corners
jigsaw

28. Cooperative Note-taking Pairs
Objective:
To enable students to take something from one
another’s notes to improve their own
Directions In Brief:
1. Assign or allow students to select partners.
2. Teach
3. Stop every 10 minutes for sharing of notes.

29. Cooperative Note-taking Pairs
Check - in
Directions in Brief
1. While teaching, stop periodically for a check-
in.
2. Instruct students to skim their partners’ notes
looking for:
 information they missed
 information partners have incorrectly noted
3. Students retrieve their own notes and make
any needed changes.

30. Objectives:
• To move students in a purposeful way
• To gather data in a quick, visual way that is engaging
Directions:
1. Identify the kind of data you want to gather.
2. Post four multiple choice responses, one in each corner.
3. Students select their responses.
4. Members of groups discuss their choices.
5. Spokespersons summarize/present group members’
thoughts.

31. SCARED

32. Fearless

33. Cautiously Optimistic

34. Other

35. CORNERS
Go to the corner…

36. THINK – WRITE – PAIR -
COMPARE
Objectives:
to give rehearsal time, engage more students, and promote
thoughtful responses
Directions:
• Present a problem, idea or question to be discussed
• Pair students randomly
• Allow time for individuals to think in silence
• Allot time for students to write responses (independently)
• Give time for partners to compare their responses
• Give the whole class time to discuss responses

37. THINK – WRITE – PAIR - COMPARE
Think of one way you could apply
4 CORNERS
in your subject area(s).

38. What are the Pros and Cons of
using 4 Corners?
PRO CON

39. Formations
Objectives: to make abstract concepts more concrete
while incorporating movement
Directions in Brief:
1. Identify an abstract concept
2. Translate it to a living model
3. Compose steps in the process of
constructing the model
4. Engage students in construction of the
model
5. Engage students in processing the concept

40. Formations
1. Meet with others in your subject area
2. Decide upon one abstract concept and
a formation that makes it concrete.
3. Be prepared to present your formation
to your colleagues in other subject areas.
Note: Every member of your group does not have
to be a part of your formation

41. Designing an 18 Week Plan
• Identify essential skills and information to be
taught using a variety of resources
– Hawaii Standards
– Curricula Frameworks from a variety of sources
– In house resources such as teacher lessons,
textbooks, etc

42. Restructuring does not mean throwing out
everything from “before block scheduling”.
Incorporate the best of the “tried and true”
methods, build adapt and reincorporate them
in the new time frame.

43. • List the most important concepts/skills you want
students to understand before the end of the course
• List effective activities now used to address each
goal
• Indicate which concepts you wish to address in
more depth
• Think of ways to contextualize each goal with reality
based activities
• Consider various strategies you might add to address
each goal

44. Design Weekly Lesson Plans
• Provide a detailed outline of activities for
each unit including possible materials,
resources, strategies

45. Design Daily Lesson Plans
Include at least three activities which allow for:
– The incorporation of movement
– The inclusion of time for whole class, individual
and group work
– Changes in media

46. Traditional Lesson Design
• Warm up/ Problem Solving 10-15
• Homework Review 10
• New Material 25-30
• Practice Activity 15-20
• Closure 10
• Writing 5-10

47. Lesson Plan With Cooperative Groups
• Warm-Up 10
• Direct Instruction 10-15
• Work in Small Groups 20-25
• Small Group Presentations 20-25
• Large Group Interaction 15
• Closure/Writing/Assignments 10

48. Allocation of Test Related Time
• Test Review 15-40
• Test 60-85

49. What is a ROTATING REVIEW?
Topic
Something I learned today. . .
Students walk around the room to
each piece of chart paper and write
something about what they learned
that day.
Sheets are posted and used as a
review.

50. • Objective:
to get students to recall, summarize or brainstorm
• Directions:
State the problem, topic or issue
Distribute one sheet of paper to each group
Give a time limit and ask students to begin to write

51. Round Table
Each person at your table should write one thing he/she has
learned about cooperative learning.