Hi
On 7 Mar 2000, Jennifer Post wrote:
> >One of the objectives of our new general education plan is
> to help students learn how to work collaboratively in teams.
> Here the objective is small group work and we're looking for
> the right context to teach it. It seems to be the complement
> of your question. This competency is, in part, suggested by
> surveys by our College of Management that suggest employers
> are looking for employees who are skilled in working in
> groups.<
Look for articles written by Johnson and Johnson (who have been
addressing this issue for quite a few years), including:
Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (1994). _Learning together and alone:
Cooperation, competition, and individualization_ (4th ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
This topic would also be covered in most Educational Psychology
books (e.g., Jigsaw technique). There is also a very lengthy
piece on cooperative learning (or collaborative learning or some
such) that is regularly posted to TIPS (without universal
approval).
Below are some notes that _might_ be relevant, from a lecture on
using controversy and cooperative goal structures.
Cooperative Efforts and Problem-Solving
(Qin, Johnson, & Johnson, 1995)
- Cooperative Situations: individuals perceive that they can
reach their goals only if other group members also do so
- joint goals, mutual rewards, shared resources,
complementary roles
- Problem Solving: form representation of task, plan procedure to
solve it, execute procedure, and check results
- Methodological Quality: randomization, clear
operationalization, control for experimenter effects, ...
- metaanalysis: analysis of (usually large) set of existing
studies
- reviewed 46 studies with 63 effects
- Effect Size: (Mcoop - Mcomp) / SD
.55 (n=63) Cooperation vs. Competition
.37 (n=31) Linguistic
.72 (n=32) Nonlinguistic (math, spatial)
- Explanations: generate more solutions, correct each other's
errors, ...
Controversy and Successful Teaching
(Johnson, 1969)
Positive Effects of Conceptual Conflict and Uncertainty
1. curiosity, produces arousal, motivation
2. forces one to take perspective of other people
3. stimulates creative thinking
4. Intellectual Growth can be fostered by differing ideas,
opinions
Initial View --> Disagreement --> Conceptual Conflict &
Uncertainty --> Quest for Information --> Revised View ....
How to Promote Controversy in Classroom
1. structure cooperative learning tasks
- make it safe to express ideas and feelings, problem
solving (not win-lose)
2. ensure groups are heterogeneous
3. directly initiate controversies
- present contrasting views, identify weaknesses in
positions, describe unexpected phenomena, use
multiple answer problems
4. teach needed interpersonal skills
a. criticize ideas, not people
b. emphasize rational arguments
c. foster perspective taking
d. see criticism as opportunity to learn
e. pace differentiation and integration phases
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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