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Course
Description
Teaching
and Learning with Groups: Keys to Success presents proven
methods for teaching students through group projects. Based
on research and years of practice, this model helps teachers
avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the many benefits of
cooperative learning. The skills and procedures taught in
this course and practiced in applied assignments will enable
educators to motivate students to develop important life skills
for working in teams while learning subject matter more completely.
Objectives
• Identify major concerns and roadblocks to using group
projects in the classroom
• Identify major benefits and needs for teaching students
cooperative group skills
• Distinguish between cooperative, competitive, and individualistic
approaches to learning
• Learn ways of structuring groups to take advantage
of individual differences and maximize strengths
• Identify the skills necessary for successful student
participation in group learning
• Examine ways of ensuring fair participation and grading
in group projects
• Learn different structures and methods for achieving
different group outcomes
• Master the teacher competencies necessary to facilitate
cooperative group learning
• Understand the many options, functions, and types of
group projects of varying lengths and purposes available for
use in all subject areas
• Learn steps for planning, implementation, and obtaining
support for group learning
Curriculum Design
Teaching and Learning With Groups is a 3 credit graduate
level or forty-five hour professional development course
taught on weekends or over five full days. The following methodologies
will be used during the course: lectures, readings, group
and individual discussions and applied practice assignments
and papers.
Course Materials
The required textbook for this course is Circles of Learning:
Cooperation in the Classroom, 4th ed. David W. Johnson,
Roger T. Johnson, & Edythe Johnson Holubec, Interaction Book
Co., 1993. A variety of readings will be referenced throughout
the course. Other supplemental readings will be provided.
Session Outline
Module 1: Overview of Issues About
Group Learning
Contents:
1. Recall Past Experiences With Group Learning
2. Identify Concerns About Assigning Group Projects
3. Brainstorm Issues Needing to be Addressed Before
Assigning Group Work
4. Identify Types of Cooperative Learning Groups
5. Examine School Wide Issues Related to Group
Work
6. Understand Faculty Dynamics Which Support Group
Action
Module 2: Cooperative, Competitive
& Individualistic Approaches
Contents:
1. Compare and Contrast 3 Approaches to Learning
2. Identify Strengths and Weakness of Each Approach
3. Identify Outcomes Best Achieved by Each Method
4. Examine Research Findings Regarding Social
Inter-Dependence
5. Master 5 Essential Components of Successful
Group Projects
6. Discover 6 Teacher Benefits of Group Projects
Module 3: Benefits and Needs for
Team Skills
Contents:
1. Examine The Needs of Employers For Team Players
2. Identify Interpersonal and Group Skills Needed
by Students and Citizens
3. Examine Benefits of Group Work to Students
and Teachers
4. Understand Effective Learning Research Regarding
Different Forms of Teaching and Learning
5. Understand Research on Achievement and Competitiveness
6. Survey Psychological and Educational Roots
of Cooperative Learning and Social Interdependence
7. Survey History of Practical Implementation
of Cooperative Learning
8. Identify 7 Positive Outcomes of Cooperation
Module 4: Maximizing Individual Differences
in Groups
Contents:
1. Understand Challenges and Benefits of Different
Personality Strengths in Groups
2. Apply Learning Styles Research to Group Process
and Lesson Design
3. Teach Students to Appreciate and Utilize Member
Differences Families
Module 5: Skills Needed by Students
for Group Work
Contents:
1. The 12 Inch Voice
2. Listening and Accepting Differing Opinions
and Ideas
3. Negotiating Project Approaches and Tasks
4. Keeping Focused and On-Task
5. Constructive Confrontation and Conflict Resolution
6. Learning 9 Needed Group Roles
7. Roles of the Teacher as Facilitator and Supervisor
Module 6: Insuring Fair Participation
& Grading of Group Projects
Contents:
1. Identify 9 Forces Hindering Group Performance
2. Ways to Structure Positive Interdependence
3. Ways to Divide Group Work Roles Equally
4. Grading Methods Which Tie Reward to Effort
and Performance
5. Survey Many Types of Assessments Including
Performance-Based, Authentic, Total Quality Learning, Peer
Assessment, Self-Rating
6. Teaching Students How to Handle Problems Which
Arise
7. Group Processing Skills for Students and Teachers
8. Group Celebrations as a Culminating Activity
Module 7: Many Structures, Many Outcomes
Contents:
1. Ways Groups Can be Used to Achieve Learning
Outcomes
2. Deciding Group Size, Student Assignments, Room
Arrangement and Group Roles
3. Structuring Tasks, Outcomes, and Creating Common
Goals
4. Specifying Individual and Group Behaviors
5. Identify Different Types of Cooperative Lessons
Module 8: Teacher Competencies To
Facilitate Group Learning
Contents:
1. From "Sage On The Stage" to "Guide On The Side"
2. Teacher Skills and Behaviors: Teaching vs.
Facilitating
3. Monitoring and Intervening
4. 8 Guidelines for Teacher Monitoring
5. Providing Task Assistance and Social Skills
6. Processing and Providing Closure
7. "If You're Working Too Hard You're Not Letting
The Students Learn It!" - Facilitating - Learning by Doing
8. Ways to Make Cooperative Group Work Motivating
9. Reasons Cooperative Learning is Worth the Effort
Module 9: Options, Functions & Types
of Groups in All Subjects
Contents:
1. Learn Informal and Formal Group Structures
2. Examine 5 Long-Term Benefits of Group Work
3. Integrating Types of Cooperative Learning in
a Lesson or Unit
4. 3 Essential Group Roles
5. 4 Levels of Cooperative Skills
6. 5 Steps in Teaching Cooperative Skills
7. Examine Cooperative Learning Lessons for Various
Subject Areas
8. Learn Guidelines for Creating Lessons and Projects
9. Ways of Sharing Products and Outcomes
Module 10: Planning, Implementation
& Obtaining Support
Contents:
1. Designing Lessons and Projects for Implementation
2. Methods for Obtaining Professional Support
and Assistance
3. Selling the Program to Parents and Administratorss
4. 3 Key Activities of a Teaching Team
5. 3 Steps for Creating a Cooperative School
6. 7 Characteristics of a Cooperative School
7. 5 Steps for Refining Cooperative Learning
8. 5 Leadership Actions for School Improvement
9. Start Small and Build on Successes
Grading
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Assignment |
Points |
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Grading
Scale |
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Group
and Classroom Participation |
30 |
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100
– 93 |
A |
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Reading
Assignments |
20 |
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92
– 85 |
B |
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Final
Integration Project |
30 |
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84
– 77 |
C |
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Final
Exam |
20 |
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Total
Points |
100 |
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Student
Requirements
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1. |
Attend
all class sessions for the requisite number of hours (45)
and actively participate in all class activities. |
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2. |
Complete
all reading assignments. Keep a journal, reflecting upon
the major ideas in the assigned readings and the application
of those ideas in your school and classroom. This journal
should have a minimum of five entries of one-half page
in length. |
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3. |
Complete
the Final Integration Project. Review research and literature
on group-centered learning and identify several major
findings or themes. Based on these key research themes,
design a unit of study for your students. This unit should
consist of five group-centered lessons, each containing
a list of objectives and a description of activities and
content. |
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4. |
Pass
a final exam. |
Student
Academic Integrity
Participants
guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic
dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from
another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student
academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering
colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary
action.
Register
To register to take TEI's Teaching and Learning with Groups:
Keys to Success classroom graduate course, go to the Course
Registration page.
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