Subject: Re: When is CL not appropriate?
From: jim borgford-parnell (bparnell@u.washington.edu)
Date: Wed Jun 14 2000 - 15:32:50 EDT
Hi Ted:
As to your question, "When is cooperative learning not appropriate?" If I
had to choose only one learning format in my teaching I would choose
cooperative learning. However, I don't have to choose only one and my
experience and training has shown me that too much of anything is never an
appropriate choice.
This discussion of cooperative learning has me thinking about how odd our
educational system is, in that we gather our learners together into small
spaces and then treat them as if each person is alone in the room. One
would imagine that concepts such as cooperative learning, group discussion,
socially shared cognition, active learning, and others, would be the driving
forces behind this system in which people are intended to learn in groups.
Instead, the underlying concept seems to be economy; it is more economical
to teach individuals if they are all gathered shoulder-to-shoulder and
listening to one teacher.
Learning theories and practice models that foreground groups and social
situations are alien to this system, and are usually compromised by the
grading systems, competition, individualistic ethos, and lack of pedagogical
preparation. Experiential learning and situated cognition are radical and
expensive notions that are out of place in our classrooms. At the same
time, we expend enormous time and effort creating elaborate systems to force
people to learn on their own, to not look over their neighbor's shoulder, to
not talk in class, and to separate their sense-making from everyone except
the teacher and the disembodied voices in the text. Our educational system,
reminds me more of Hollywood's version of the Roman gladiatorial games, in
which it was every man for himself and the last one standing was the winner.
Well one thing is for sure, there is no lack need for instructional
consultants in this system.
Jim
Jim Borgford-Parnell
Instructional Consultant
Center for Instructional Development and Research
University of Washington
(206) 543-6588, Fax: (206) 685-1213
----------
>From: ted panitz <tpanitz@capecod.net>
>To: math-teach@forum.swarthmore.edu, stlhe-l@unb.ca,
wac-l@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu, aera-c@asu.edu, aera-c@asu.edu,
aera-j@asu.edu, mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu, CLTALK@asu.edu,
pod@catfish.valdosta.edu, k12assess-l@listsrva.cua.edu,
K12admin@listserv.syr.edu, Middle-l@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu,
tips@fre.fsu.umd.edu
>Subject: When is CL not appropriate?
>Date: Tue, Jun 13, 2000, 4:31 PM
>
> Hi Listers,
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for coop learning
> (CL) topics for a column. When I get all the responses sorted I will
> share the list with you. There are definitely areas of concern and
> interest that appear to be pretty universal, such as grading, alternate
> assessment, forming groups, to name a few. That should wet your appetite
> for the rest of the list.
>
> One question came up several times and has me a little stumped, but
> just a little;
>
> “When is cooperative learning not appropriate?”
>
> My knee jerk reaction was to think, “It is always appropriate!”
> Then I started to think carefully and it occurred to me that most
> cooperative learning approaches call for a component to address
> individual student accountability. This might take the form of an exam
> at the end of a lesson, a report, an essay, a project presentation, etc.
> Under these circumstances I would say that CL techniques would not
> apply. They could be used to help students prepare for tests or peer
> edit papers but the final activity should be carried out by each student
> individually.
>
> Can anyone else think of other educational objectives where CL would
> not be appropriate?
>
> Please e-mail your responses to me directly and the list and I will
> compile the results. Thanks in advance for your participation in this
> discussion.
>
> Regards,
> Ted
> tpanitz@capecod.net
>
>
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