A Snapshot View Of Learning In The Modern Classroom Depicts

“When groups are planned so that each member's strengths have authentic importance to the ultimate success of the group's activity, this creates a situation where individual learning styles, skills, and talents are valued, and students shine in their fortes and learn from each other in the areas where they are not as expert.”(Willis)

Collaboration is often first learn with friends (e.g. a sandbox), within the classroom (e.g. team projects). Emily Eldrige also goes on to share her life story, and her tendency not wanting to work in groups. Collaboration, by society standards, is seen as a natural skill, that everyone possess. When student prefer not to work in group, rather than promoting team effort, it is best to ask the students, why are groups not an interest or a likeness. Collaboration falls into three categories: life experiences, personality, and contextual knowledge. Personality is the predominant factor for most students. During this phase in a person's life, he/she is making numerous personal decisions that he/she will carry for the rest of his/her life. When

Interestingly, other studies support the perceived barrier of the lack of face-to-face interaction noted above in social theory of learning. Daniel, Schwier, and McCalla (2003), noted that the concept of community as a learning organism provides the framework for investigating learning concepts as it relates to individuals and groups and serves as the basis in analyzing and understanding learning as a social process (Masika, R. & Jones, J., 2015). Tinto (2003) goes on to support this by concluding that students learn better together and build support groups that go beyond the classroom when they

Collaborative learning stems from the theory of Vygotsky’s conception of Zone of proximal development. The thought is that children learn best with “help and guidance” (Ormrod, 2012). In transitioning this zone to a collaborative learning experience, children work with their peers in broadening their learning experience, allowing small groups of students to work together to share knowledge, exchange ideas, problem solve, and more. These classroom environments help to create durable abilities in students and aid in producing a “smoother integration into adult society when the activities resemble real-world tasks” (Ormrod, 2012). As students work with peers and adults, they adopt some of the learning strategies demonstrated and develop more skills in problem solving. This scaffolding creates a trickle-down effect of knowledge construction. In collaborative learning, students are afforded a myriad of enriching opportunities to explore perspectives that may differ from their own. These activities serve to create a self-awareness in the student of their responsibilities to a group, requiring them to self-monitor their activity (Lee, Tsai, Chai, & Koh, 2014).

Group work and group projects help blossoming students develop key social skills that will help them later in life.

Some advantages are students learn dispositions about shared tasks and group challenges, students develop a greater understanding of self and others for the shared work, students can make choices that regulate the pace and process of learning, and students can learn to manage and use human resources (Metzler 233). There are also many disadvantages that come along with this model. There may be one student that dominates the group and takes control, there may be some students that feel they are contributing more. There are students who try hard but make a lesser contribution to the team may feel ashamed or become defensive, and some students may limit their own contribution (and learning) to allow other students a greater chance to contribute (Metzler 233). Along with the advantages and disadvantages there comes positive outputs from using this model in particular. There are four major theory sets in cooperative learning: Motivational theory which “is used to create structures that get teams to recognize that the only way the team can achieve is for all its members to contribute and achieve”(Metzler 235). Cognitive theory “is used to provide students with developmentally appropriate cooperative learning tasks that gave teams the right amount of challenge to accomplish team goals” (Metzler 235). Social learning theory “figures into the model because much of the learning occurs by listening to and

We as societies are hindered in advancement by secluding ourselves alone. Learning in groups working together adds an element of scaffolding and accountability to learning. The shared construction of meaning is most visible and available for research at the small-group unit of analysis, where it appears as group cognition (Stahl et al., 2006). Social cohesion adds elements of accountability and a sense of enjoyment, camaraderie, and social acceptance of all cultures. Adding to the literature, Akyol & Garrison, 2014, Community of Inquiry argues “Social presence may well have more influence in informal learning environments, K-12 settings, or in online learning where students are new to this medium (Akyol, & Garrison, p.18, 2014). Positive reinforcement striving to acquire meaningful relationships build lifelong ethical citizens.

“Group work is a teaching strategy that promotes academic achievement and socialization”(Frykedal, Chiriac, 2011). This method is often used since allow individuals to combine their skills with the intention to achieve a mutual goal. To be efficient when working with a group, individuals have the responsibility to understand and respect others preferences and

It helps students to share their knowledge with each other for a better understanding of a specific concept. One of the important principles that the cooperative learning theory proposes is heterogeneous grouping, which means that the students within the group vary in their gender, skills, class social, religion and age (Jacobs 4). Another important principle is maximum peer interactions that occur when specifying the number of students working together (Jacobs 4). Collaborative skills is an additional principle that is proposed by this theory, which means that students who work with each other are capable of explaining and giving reasons (Jacobs 4). Also, one of the essential principles is individual accountability, which ensures that every one is and working trying to share their knowledge (Jacobs 5). This theory is applied to the physics worksheet because it is a model for enhancing the cooperative learning

When working with others, I perform best when supporting the lead. The strengths I possess help more with maintaining the group cohesive while others guide the group towards a goal. I am collaborative when it comes to sharing resources, and expect for others to do the same for another. For me it is important for all members of a group to make both significant and meaningful contributions, so that each individual benefits from aiding the collective. When presented with a dilemma, ideas for possible solutions come in abundance, however, it requires an extended period of time for me to formulate these thoughts. At Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI), I have built strong relationships with co-workers. This is largely due to the fact that we all value education, family, and equity.

Foote, C., & Vermette, P. (2001) Constructivist Philosophy and Cooperative Learning Practice: Toward Integration and Reconciliation in Secondary Classrooms. American Secondary Education, 30, 26-37

In this course, there were many different student centered strategies that were discussed. One strategy that was exposed was Cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals but for me, it is much more than merely arranging students into groups. It is about the development of critical thinking skills, teamwork, positive relations, peer coaching and the establishment of environments where academic accomplishments are valued. With cooperative learning, each member of a team is responsible not only for learning

Working to ones’ strengths, however, is not always the most beneficial way to utilise group work in an educational setting. Putting members together that have different skills or traits can cause them to improve them individually, like putting an introvert and an extrovert together. An extrovert can bring an introverted person out of their shell, causing them to interact more with the rest of the group and offer more of their own opinions; while an introvert can make an extrovert learn to listen more and consider other students’ thoughts, perhaps teaching them to be less overbearing. To put together two conflicting traits can help to average out members’ work, also which can improve grades.

While working in groups, they excel as interpersonal learners. Study groups are very helpful for folks like me to learn new things. We also tend to incorporate working with a peer at a minimum.

In order to achieve this, students develop trust and communicative skills, creating a community that allows students to work as a team.