1.Rotating Review
The activity “Rotating Review” is one of the
cooperative learning strategies that require movement around the class. The
participants discuss and answer several questions that are located at different
places in the room.
1. A
number of questions (6 to 8) are each written on separate sheets of paper and
posted around the room.
2.
Groups of students (3 to 5) are assigned a question. They move to the sheet with
the question on it, discuss the question for 4 to 5 minutes, and write their
answers on a sheet of paper.
3. At a
signal from the teacher, the groups move to a new sheet, read the question, and
write their answer on their papers.
4. The
teacher calls for the groups to move on – repeating the process, possible,
until the groups return to their original sheets…
2.Cooperative puzzle (poster or map or ....)
Cooperative activity that improves the group cooperative
capacity. It can be used for identification of cooperative capacity of each
individual in the group.
Prepare
a poster, a map or anything else that can be cut into pieces. It must be large
enough that the whole group of students can work with it. Divide it into as
many pieces as you need to give one piece to each participant (student).
(First,
you can let students share their associations about what each piece remind them
of. However, this is not necessary.)
Prepare
a frame on the floor that is as big as the original poster or map – the frame should
have the same dimensions
(measurements). Then instruct your students that their task is to reconstruct
the poster or the map. Everybody is allowed to operate only with their own
piece of the puzzle. It means that the participants are not allowed to transfer
their piece to another person. Everybody should hold their piece in their
hands. They can release the piece only when they contribute it to completing
the poster. But they can consult together, they can show their pieces and
compare them and do whatever they want except for giving their piece to
somebody else.
If a
participant who has already placed their piece on the frame realizes that it
must be moved/removed, she/he can do so. Also, each member of the team may ask
anybody else to move/remove her or his piece – but only the owner of the piece
may touch it.
Announce
the time limit for the reconstruction of the puzzle and ask the group to manage
their time.
The
group should be warned several minutes before their time is up. Be strict about
the time.
Observe
your students/participants carefully. Make notes for further reflection. The
activity is a rich
source
of information about the group’s cooperative capacity and about the individuals
as well.
Reflection
Questions
for the students/participants: How did you like the activity? What did you like
and what did you dislike? What was difficult about it for you personally? What
was difficult for the group? Did you notice what was crucial for the group’s
success? How did you personally contribute to the success of the group work?
How did others contribute to the success? Did somebody contribute more than
others? What did you learn about teamwork during this activity?
Note
You as a
teacher have a chance by carefully watching your students during the activity to
recognize possible leaders, people who selflessly contribute to common success,
people who don’t think about others, people who follow the rules correctly and
so on.
You can
use this activity repeatedly and observe whether the cooperation skills of your
team improve.
3.Pens in the Middle
The activity Pens in the Middle is a cooperative
learning strategy.
The
teacher assigns a problem or question to students. The students share ideas in
groups (3 to 8 members). Each student marks his or her contribution by placing
a pen (or pencil or pebble ....) on the table in the middle of the group. That
individual may not contribute again until all pens are in the middle.
All
members are equal in their ability to contribute, and no one may dominate.
The
teacher may also select a pen and ask what contribution it represents.
4.Cubing
Cubing is a teaching strategy which facilitates
looking at a topic from varying perspectives.
It
involves the use of a cube with different prompts for thinking and writing on
each side of the cube. The cube can be made by covering a small box, preferably
15 to 20 centimeters on a side, with paper. Write one of the following six
prompts on each side of the cube: Describe
It, Compare
It, Associate
It, Analyze
It, Apply It, and Argue for or Against It.
Teachers
lead students through the process of cubing by having students free write for a brief period (2
to 4
minutes) on a given topic. Give the topic first. Then direct students to think
of the topic and Describe
It. That
is, they should look at the subject closely and describe what they see,
including colors, shapes,
or
signs. With the directions in mind students free write for the specified period
of time on the topic.
The
process continues as above through all six sides of the cube. The directions
for the six sides are
Describe It. Look at the
subject closely (perhaps only in your mind) and describe what you see,
including colors, shapes, or sizes.
Compare It. What is it similar to? What is it
different from?
Associate It. What does it
make you think of? What comes into your mind? It can be similar things or
different
things, places, or people. Just let your mind go and see what associations you
have for this subject.
Analyze It. Explain how it is made. You don’t have to
know; you can make it up.
Apply It. How can it be used?
Argue For or Against It. Go ahead and
take a stand. Use any kind of reason you want – logical, silly, or anywhere in
between.
The prescribed time can be different for each side of the cube
(for example: Describe It – 5 min, Compare It – 3 min, Associate It – 1 min.).
Following
the writing period, students share their responses to each side of the cube.
Often this sharing is done first with a partner. Each person selects three
sides of the cube to share and read their writing to their partners.
There
are no set rules of how this sharing must go but we have found it worked
extremely well to share as follows.
After
one partner reads, the other responded by giving praise (or praises) and a
question (or questions). We stressed responding to specific thoughts and that
students not just say for example, “that was good” but say specifically what
they liked and why they liked it. Questions were modeled such as “I liked the
way you described your vision, I did not think it looked like that,” or “I did
not understand …,” or “I would like know more about this.”
Finally,
the whole group went through each of the perspectives. We asked for volunteers
to read their writing
to the
whole group. Usually one partner volunteered the other partner, saying, “read
yours, it was good.”
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