MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Introduction This paper presents a critical analysis of the experiences I gained during the practicum while using Cooperative Learning (CL) to teach a topic in grade six science in a primary school in Dar es Salam. In the paper, I will justify the use of CL, site the successes and challenges experienced and suggest improvements for future implementation. CL is defined as students working together to attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). School context The primary school had a total population of approximately 550 pupils and 29 teachers. I was assigned to teach the topic the human excretory system in standard six science syllabus. The standard six class had 80 pupils. Science had four lessons of 40 minutes each in a week. The medium of instruction was Swahili. The Strategy chosen Before taking over the class I observed one lesson of a regular teacher teaching the function of lungs in gaseous exchange. The teacher used lecture method and sparingly asked learners questions which were answered by a few students while most remained passive. Communication was mostly one-way, from the teacher to the students. Students interest and attention could not be sustained for the period of lecture. The teacher used 17 minutes to copy notes on the board because the students did not take notes as the lecture progressed. I took some time to reflect on the observation which reminded me of my own previous practice which was not different from that of the teacher I observed. I reflected on my classes in AKU1 and remembered a student-centered approach we have been experiencing all along and which we later came to know as cooperative learning (CL). Through this method we were allowed
1

Aga Khan University

MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

to solve problems as a team in order to construct knowledge and in the process we developed interpersonal skills and understood concepts better (Kagan, 1994). In other words, through teamwork and individual accountability, we worked toward acquiring knowledge and social skills (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The case of the regular teacher I observed is not an isolated one because as noted by Lord, (2001) several studies suggest that most science teachers tend to focus on the presentation of fixed bodies of information, encourage competition, and do not engage students in the learning activity. This can be attributed to the belief that learning or achievement of one student is independent and separate from the achievements of the other students in the class (Johnson & Johnson, 1991) and that knowledge and cognitive skills are assets the teacher can transfer to the learner (Slavin, 1990). This individualistic learning is in principal contrary to the spirit of co-operative learning in which students work collaboratively towards a common goal (Panitz, 1996) and achievements are positively correlated with other cooperating students (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). I decided to use CL as a strategy that will best engage the students not just in listening and writing but more importantly in active participation. I then considered an appropriate CL structure to use for the topic, Human Excretory System. I chose the jigsaw approach particularly, because of its twofold benefit of giving students teaching and research skills over and above a host of other CL benefits. However, in the practicum context, I did not expect the shift from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction and learning to be easy and smooth for me and the students. Experiences of implementation of the strategy I began implementing CL by guiding students on basic interpersonal skills including communicating ideas effectively, taking turns during discussions, remaining focused on the task and sharing materials. I also outlined the behavioral and learning expectations. For example,

MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

expectations regarding voice volume, specific roles in the group and expected final products from each group. I divided the class into 12 home groups of 7 students each. The grouping was done by having students count-off numbers 1-12 as they were seated in their usual positions. It was easy to balance the membership of each group to ensure they were heterogeneous in terms of gender but not ability because I did not have information on their academic backgrounds. I appointed a leader and a secretary for each group by asking the group members to choose amongst them. I divided the day's lesson from the topic Human Excretory System into six brief stand-alone segments: (1) Causes of excretory products, (2) Major excretory products, (3) Role of kidney in excretion, (4) Function of renal blood vessels, (5) Function of ureta, and (6) Function of urinary bladder. Each segment was assigned to two groups. I then assigned each student to learn one segment and made sure each student had direct access only to his/her own printed cut-out segment. I asked the pupils to become familiar with their segment by reading it three times without having to memorize. I had the students count-off again to form temporary "expert groups" where one student from each home group joined other students assigned to the same segment. I gave expert groups 10 minutes to discuss their segment and 5 minutes to rehearse the presentations they will make to their home groups. The students went back to their mother groups to teach their segments to the group and the other members in the group asked questions and clarifications. I went round from group to group monitoring interactions in the groups, and provided assistance and clarifications. This took 15 minutes. I then randomly called a student from each home group to stand up and share with the whole class their segment before concluding the lesson with random questions to the whole class and ending with a brief summary.

MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Successes: The students had a sense of enthusiasm, curiosity and interest to participate in group activities. Learners interacted freely as they worked together on the task and engaged in extensive direct verbal negotiations (Shachar & Sharan, 1994). Each learner was involved in the learning process through discussion, writing, teaching and reporting. The three levels of learningexpert group, home group and whole class presentation kept learners together and increased their understanding and retention of content. I observed that learners were keenly listening as their colleagues spoke. In many groups learners were organised in the way they took turns to give their suggestions and ask questions. These listening and questioning aspects helped them learn from one another and understand concepts better (Cohen, 1994). Learners were able to keep records of their work as they noted in writing the outcomes of their discussions. In most groups the writings were neat. Much as each expert group had a scribe, each learner also took notes in preparation for presentation to their home groups. The most impressive part of this lesson was the ability of learners to come up with expected group products as per the assigned segment of the task. All groups worked towards their products successfully. Challenges: Throughout the practicum I was struggling to relate the Swahili translation with concepts and terminologies in science. At first the Swahili terminologies seemed very new and difficult. I had to read over and over to make meaning and get the correct interpretation. Giving instructions and explaining concepts in Swahili remained an uphill task. During group formation the students were excited and as they moved to their groups they called each others names and shouted their numbers. This caused a great deal of noise and commotion.

MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

The classroom was small and congested with desks on which the learners sat due to the large number of students in the class. Learners could not comfortably sit for a round table face-toface interaction due to large group sizes and this negatively affected their collaboration. Time constraint was a challenge as the forty minutes lesson was not sufficient because substantial amount of time was consumed every time students moved to position and reposition themselves in their groups. This resulted into consuming the time of the subsequent lesson. In a few cases I saw some students not participating in the discussions as I moved round. This was mainly because the classroom was by the road side and students attention was taken by the events outside when they looked out through the window. In rare cases I found a few active ones dominating the activities and discussions in the groups. Suggestions of improvement In future I will begin each CL class by scaffolding with a short lecture that would introduce the learners to the topic and then proceed to a CL activity. I consider this important because in this particular experience I went into CL activity which was new to the students without introducing the topic for learners to get a clue of what they were expected to learn. In future as the students and I gain experience with using CL, I may begin the class with a CL activity and then conclude with a short lecture to highlight important points. I find it important to prepare worksheets for students use in future as a form of group accountability. This is because I saw students having difficulty in recording their results without a common guiding format. Having a worksheet to guide them will help the groups work towards their goal in order to come up with the group product in an organised way. To save on time and promote interpersonal and social skills, I will do the grouping of students before the lesson and in the process also take care of heterogeneity of the groups based on

MY EXPERIENCE OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING

learners personalities, ethnicity and abilities. This will be possible based on my knowledge of the students background information. Conclusion In this paper, I have looked at my first time experience of using cooperative learning in terms of challenges and successes in the classroom. Consequently, I believe cooperative learning can support an environment in which students feel encouraged to take charge of their own learning. However, as a practicing teacher I will need to move from merely reading about cooperative learning to applying and modifying it to my context.

References Cohen, E.G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for positive small groups. Review of Educational Research, 64, 1-35